A SINGAPOREAN ARTIST COVERS FACE WITH POPPY SEEDS IN MELBOURNE, 1999-03-12 (photo)

Singapore-born performance artist Evelyn Chen has her face covered with poppy seeds after staging her work "Transience" at the First Site Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Union Gallery March 12. Chen, 25, who performs naked and encourages audience participation in her Zen Buddhist-inspired work, says she tries to reflect the impermanence of life in the performance which incorporates meditation, a ritual using poppy seeds, a drum and bowls of Chinese joss paper. She is in the final year of a Fine Art (painting) degree at the city university. WB/JIR