Name: Abdul Hafiiz Bin Abdul Karim
Thesis Title: What the Hack? A Queer Exploration of New Media Art Collectives in Indonesia
Thesis Abstract:
Technological progress in Indonesia raises questions regarding the extent to which Indonesians are dealing with the impact of new media. This dissertation aims to develop a queer lens through which we can engage with the complexities of digital culture. By analysing various artworks of new media art collectives in Indonesia, it explores how their hacking concepts and practices produce and reflect queerness in Indonesia’s digital culture. Moreover, this dissertation seeks to criticize and provide alternatives to some of the contemporary socio-political realities and conditions within the nation. It examines four aspects of digital culture by looking at the nature of new media users, the binaries of social order, the failures produced by these binaries, and cyberscapes. By employing a multitude of queer criticisms from theorists including Sadie Plant, Donna Haraway and Jacob Gaboury, this dissertation attempts to avoid the trap of a singular and patriarchal structure of theorisation. Instead, a queer perspective offers an unfixed subjectivity that seeks to de-naturalise the relationship we have with technology.

Name: Hana Yoon
Thesis Title: Truths and Fictions: Images of North Korea through the Lenses of Photographers Noh Sun Tag and Back Seung Woo
Thesis Abstract:
What is the meaning of photography in a world inundated with images amid advances in digital technology? People unconsciously accept images that are shown to them, and numerous photographs of North Korea shown in mass media shift people’s perception of the country. This thesis begins with questioning what is visible and not visible in photographs that represent North Korea’s constructed image. It then analyses photographs by Noh Sun Tag (b.1971, Korean) and Back Seung Woo (b.1973, Korean) based on the concept of the ‘optical unconscious’ as theorised by Walter Benjamin and Shawn Michelle Smith to examine the process through which one accepts and interprets photographic images. Modern Korean photographs on North Korea taken by the previous generation before Noh and Back were only able to capture political and social issues arising from the division of the two countries or scenes from the divided zone. As a result of policy efforts to improve relations between North and South Korea, however, some South Koreans had an opportunity to visit North Korea in the early 2000s, with this possibility open for about a decade. Noh and Back used that opportunity to go to North Korea in person and take photographs. In their photographic works, Noh and Back captured the reality and fictional image of North Korea that they experienced first-hand. With their serious reflection on photography as a medium, their works questioned the photographic image itself and explored the vulnerability of human vision. Noh’s Red House I–III (2004–2006), which deals with North Korea’s image viewed from various angles under the circumstance of the Korean division, and Back’s Blow Up (2005–2007) and Utopia (2008), which deal with the manipulated image of North Korea, all feature North Korea as their subject matter. However, these works provide a variety of reflections on the country’s image and on photography in general through the photographer’s exploration of different themes and production methods. This thesis suggests seeking visual autonomy and open interpretations through the works of these two photographers, which view North Korea from the perspective of the optical unconscious–one of the most important theories in photography.

Name: Jones Benny John
Thesis Title: Recontextualising Neo-Tantra: The Decolonial Mysticism of G. R. Santosh
Thesis Abstract:
Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, the Kashmiri artist G. R. Santosh dedicated his time to representing his native terrain through vivid expressionistic paintings and subtle romantic poetry. Deriving his form from the pre-existing Tantric and Sufi traditions indigenous to the area, Santosh, who was called Ghulam Rasool Dhar before adopting the surname of his wife, was representative of the plurality of a land long steeped in communal turmoil. Like some of his contemporaries, Santosh had strong Leftist leanings, but politics never found its way into his art. This enigmatic duality is not unique to his practice but with him finds a special significance as he lived and worked in Kashmir, where religion and politics are constantly a cause for contention and violence, a legacy of the region’s colonial past.

This study hopes to examine the artistic practices of G. R. Santosh, and compare them to those of other artists who come under the loose category of neo-Tantrism. It does so in order to understand his depoliticised mysticism as a reaction, whether conscious or not, to the post-colonial polemics of his birthplace. This is not to undermine the spiritual significance of his art but to complement it with a political identity that creates a model for multicultural integration amidst communal polarisation.

Name: Lee Seung Jin
Thesis Title: From Tradition to Modernity: The Tiger Motif in Korean Art
Thesis Abstract:
This thesis aims to theorise the creation and transformation of the meaning of the tiger motif in traditional, modern and contemporary Korean art. It does so by defining the symbolism of the Korean tiger motif and exploring its chronological development. Modern painters transformed the traditional tiger motif into abstract meanings, whereas the tiger motif in Minhwa paintings was depicted more humorously. Minhwa mirrors the social, cultural and political environment of the time and it played a crucial role in Korean modern art history. John Clark’s theory of neo-traditionalism was applied to analyse the use of the traditional frame and the transformation of meaning in modern tiger art. Diverse perspectives are suggested to examine the adoption of the tiger motif in contemporary art. This thesis argues that the status of the tiger motif in contemporary art manifests in the preservation of tradition in Korean art history. It concludes with the finding that tradition has the power to unify the nation and is a major cultural resource in the twenty-first century. In the long history of Korea, the tiger image not only solidifies the continuous succession of tradition in contemporary art but also reminds us that tradition and culture hold the power to keep a nation united as one.

Name: Lin Chaohong, Vincent
Thesis Title: Re-Negotiating Chinese Ink in Contemporary Singapore
Thesis Abstract:
This study adopts cultural identity as a framework to analyse and discuss contemporary Chinese ink art in Singapore. While much literature has been written about classical Chinese ink heritage and its influence and development in Singapore, contemporary Singaporean Chinese ink art has begun to emerge as a response to this heritage. The study examines how contemporary Singaporean Chinese ink artists negotiate classical Chinese ink heritage as a cultural basis for their art making. This study attempts to describe their efforts as distinctive from this heritage that nonetheless retains a sense of cultural familiarity. The study reviews literature on classical Chinese ink heritage and its development in Singapore to set the context for the contemporisation of Chinese ink art in Singapore. The study then establishes three key parameters for the examination of four case studies: the sense of familiarity, extension of material, and the fusion of Chinese and Western thought. The study describes the sense of familiarity as a cultural association with the iconography of classical Chinese ink heritage. The extension of material encompasses the application of the traditional Chinese ink medium and material, as well as unconventional materials, in artworks. The fusion of Chinese and Western thought references the synthesis of medium, philosophies, ideas, narratives and cultural dilemmas as perceived by Western-educated Singaporean Chinese ink artists. The study has visually and contextually analysed Ling Yang Chang’s Taking a Break, Hong Sek Chern’s Rolled/Unrolled, Lim Choon Jin’s Rolling Mist in Highlands and June Lee Yu Juan’s Lost in Translation as contemporary Chinese ink artworks fitting these parameters.

This study concludes that cultural familiarity is the key component for understanding contemporary Singaporean Chinese ink art. Moreover, the extension of material and fusion of Chinese and Western thought are to be considered as supporting influences towards cultural familiarity. With these parameters, the cultural negotiation of these contemporary Singaporean Chinese ink artists is thus made clear as distinct but familiar from the cultural basis of the classical Chinese ink heritage. The study hopes to expand the discourse of Singaporean Chinese ink through the examination of contemporary artworks, and to propose the use of the three parameters of familiarity, extension and fusion for the study of contemporary Chinese ink in Singapore. The study proposes that future research into contemporary Singaporean Chinese ink can be expanded through the coverage of more artists and how the medium can be used in artistic production.

Name: Reaksmey Yean
Thesis Title: Picturing the Vernacular: Art and Political Aesthetics in the Works of Jakkai Siributr and Leang Seckon
Thesis Abstract:
This thesis discusses works by two contemporary artists from Thailand, Jakkai Siributr; and Cambodia, Leang Seckon. It explores the notion of power within the artists’ praxis and works through the lens of passive-subversive, a framework that has been theorised by the author, against the context of Theravada Buddhism, a tradition and religion that the majority of Thai and Cambodian people adhere to. In doing so, the thesis gives a particular attention to, what it terms, the political aesthetics that are enacted through the deployment of the vernacular imaginaire, that is, the indigenous and local power/knowledge materials that include, but are not limited to visual culture in the magico-religious sphere (animist-Hindu-Buddhist imageries in painting, architecture, sculpture, worshipping idol, etc) and secular contexts (pop culture, iconic visual representation, photography); historical and modern myths and memory; local language (Thai, Khmer characters and text) and philosophy; and contemporary national politics and its aesthetics. Political aesthetics is defined in this thesis as the stylistic features and the aura of the art objects, and the projection of politics via that aura. In this regard, the thesis works on the assumption that all art is political and that all art forms are a form of political practice. In turn, it recognises what political scientist Crispin Sartwell argues, that all politics are aesthetic. This thesis centralises its discussion on selected works displayed in two exhibitions: Transient Shelter (2014) by Jakkai Siributr at a New York-based gallery, Tyler Rollins Fine Art, and When Head and Body Unite (2017) at Rossi & Rossi in Hong Kong.

Name: Tanya Michele Amador
Thesis Title: Observing the Observer through a New Methodology– Case Study: Melati Suryodarmo’s Exergie Butter Dance (2010)
Thesis Abstract:
Existing frameworks for considering performance art tend to scrutinise the art form by addressing its ephemerality, the use of the artist’s body, and psychological nuances as pertaining to emotionally elicited affects. However, many times these ignore the habitus of the spectators altogether. Prevailing discourse often briefly references the audience as being participants in the work, but seldom goes deeper into the experience of the individual viewer. This study proposes a new method of analysis through the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). A qualitative method of data collection, IPA allows the reader to understand an individual’s reception of a particular event, or “phenomena” from the perspective of the chosen individual subjects and their specific context(s). Using the performance, Exergie Butter Dance performed at the Lilith Performance Studio in Sweden in 2010 by Indonesian performance artist, Melati Suryodarmo as a case study, in this thesis, an insightful interview process with three individuals narrates how the viewer’s preconceived notions, cultural values, experiences, and pre-programming cause them to understand performance works in the ways that they do. By shifting the focus from the somatic, psychological, and semiotic meanings of artistic intent and towards a richer analytical methodology, this thesis endeavours to open up an avenue for understanding audience reception through the ingrained belief systems and experiences that each individual comes to the work with.

Name: Joanne Ngeow
Thesis Title: Iridescence: Exploring Phi Phi Oanh’s Lacquer Paintings as Instruments of Vision
Thesis Abstract:
The starting point for this thesis was two historical events – one in the sciences, the other in the arts – that mark important moments in the history of vision. In 1633, what Galileo demonstrated to us was a world beyond the moon and beyond his finely ground lens. His demonstration created debates on sight itself : What can be seen, how far, how well? While Galileo’s discovery was met with much debate, Brunelleschi’s experiment in 1413 was one which was met with acclaim and recognition. Brunelleschi – with his panel, his easel, his camera obscura – demonstrated the mathematization of sight and the invention of perspective in his painting. These two moments arose from two apparently distinct provinces – art and science. But the place of overlap is the eye. In this thesis, I explore how Phi Phi Oanh combines these two very different instruments, painting and the use of lens, in her lacquer paintings and installations, and how she uses these instruments to further critique society’s move from a text-based to an image-based culture in the digital age.

Name: Sofia Coombe
Thesis Title: Iridescence: There’s No Place Like Home: Vietnam through the Lens of Two Diasporic Filmmakers
Thesis Abstract:
The repercussions of the Vietnam War and unprecedented migration that ensued, provided fertile ground for a gamut of diasporic Vietnamese artists to bring to light issues pertaining to dislocation and identity. Looking at the works of two diasporic Vietnamese filmmakers, Luu Huynh and Victor Vu, whose filmmaking practices germinated in a pond of nebulous memories and second-hand recollections of the Vietnam War, this thesis considers how their works were coloured by their personal experiences of displacement. An integral part of the study consisted of setting the scene from a historical perspective, as well as contextualising the lives and times of these filmmakers. Despite their unique life circumstances, the films selected share a number of common stylistic and narrative threads, highlighting collective concerns and reactions. Finally, a look at the factors that lured these filmmakers back to Vietnam from the U.S. was undertaken, examining why the homeland identity is prioritized, despite years of absence. Their diasporic perspective is analysed in relation to existing frameworks that have been developed to understand diasporic cinema. Are approaches such as that of Hamid Naficy’s accented cinema applicable to the Vietnamese context? In addition to documenting a plethora of films that risk falling under the radar of cinematic history, this thesis endeavours to provide a greater understanding of the Vietnamese filmmaking diaspora, and exemplify how these films contribute towards Vietnam’s cultural heritage.