
Suzann Victor, Double Happy, 2018, Sculpture: Crushed stained glass, 43 x 34 x 34 cm, Image courtesy of Gajah Gallery
Shaping Geographies: Art | Woman | Southeast Asia is a major group exhibition featuring works by 11 leading contemporary female artists from the region. Turning the spotlight on the growing number of active women artists in Southeast Asia, the show brings together these diverse artistic practices through three key intersections and tensions of the terms ‘Art’, ‘Woman’ and ‘Southeast Asia’.
How can we acknowledge the unique contributions of women artists to Southeast Asian contemporary art history, whilst at the same time not be beholden to or overdetermined by the categorisation ‘woman artists’? Shaping Geographies: Art | Woman | Southeast Asia poses an answer to this question by illuminating the unique and individual experiences of women made different by intersectional communal axes; multiple generations of artists are represented, highlighting the expanding and constantly evolving course of women’s art practice in Southeast Asia, and recognising each individual artist’s distinct cultural basis and connections which propels their contribution to art history.

I Gak Murniasih, Nyut, Nyut, 2001, Acrylic on canvas, 150 x 100 cm, Image courtesy of Sudakara Art Space and Ketemu Project Space
Here, ‘geography’ does not only refer to a fixed location or delineated border, but an ever-shifting political, cultural, and social arena, with the idea and sense of place being relentlessly contested.
Navigating each artist’s practice on their own terms, the exhibition considers how each has played a part in crafting the landscape of contemporary art, Southeast Asian art, and women’s art practices: women shaping geographies of space, place, and environment.
Participating artists: Suzann Victor (Singapore) Anida Yoeu Ali (Cambodia), Fika Ria Santika (Indonesia), Geraldine Javier (Philippines), I Gak Murniasih (Indonesia), Kayleigh Goh (Malaysia), Muslimah Collective (Thailand), Nguyen Trinh Thi (Vietnam), Savanhdary Vongpoothorn (Laos), Tintin Wulia (Indonesia) Yee I-Lann (Malaysia)
Venue: Gajah Gallery, 39 Keppel Road, Tanjong Pagar Distripark #03-04, Singapore 089065
Opening Hours: Mon- Fri: 11 am – 7 pm, Sat, Sun and PH: 12 – 6 pm Free entry
When: 23 Nov - 31 Dec 2019,
By: Gajah Gallery