Name: Madeline Byrne
Thesis Title: The Queer Perspective: Examining a New Generation’s Engagement with Identity in the Shifting Arts Landscapes of Singapore from 2016 to 2021
Thesis Abstract
Despite the presence of queer art in all levels of exhibition spaces, there has been little study into queer art in Singapore. Study into queer Singaporean art becomes all the more pertinent with the noticeable rise in the exhibition of queer art in the past decade. 2020 alone saw a large number of exhibitions that explicitly engaged with queerness, including but not limited to Strange Bodies: Queer Show at Grey Projects, Back Room at Cuturi Gallery, April Fools at Coda Culture, ex – tensions at I_S_L_A_N_D_S, Viscous Fairy Grottoes: Arcades Project at soft/WALL/studs. 

This paper aims to address this lack of study by examining the recent surge in queer art and how queer artists have engaged with queerness in their practices. It does so by asking how a new generation of queer artists has engaged with shifts in the landscapes of visual arts production in Singapore to exhibit work concerning their sexual and gender identities from 2016 to 2021. In order to examine these new engagements, this paper breaks the history of queer art production into three generations. The third generation acts as the focus of this study which is examined by analysing how artists Aki Hassan, nor and Marla Bendini have engaged with trans–embodiment in their practices and the shifting landscapes of art production in Singapore. This analysis focuses on how engagements with queer embodiment inherently prioritise the lived experiences of queer people. The study has found that the queer artists’ engagement with changes in museums’ curatorial strategies and the rise of independent and for-profit gallery spaces have caused an increase in the exhibition of queer art within visual arts spaces in Singapore. 

Name: Adeline Lim
Thesis Title: The Grand Re-design: Reframing the Narratives of the Equator Art Society within the National Gallery Singapore
Thesis Abstract
This research examines the National Gallery narratives of Equator Art Society artworks within their original political context, presenting the contentious history of political dissent in a new light. To achieve this, primary sources from the National Gallery Singapore’s permanent collections, as well as catalogues of Equator Arts Society and the Singapore Chinese Middle Schools’ Graduates of 1953 Arts Association exhibitions, were also used. In addition, the study reviewed newspaper clippings from that time to consider the political and social landscape in Singapore, as well as general and critical responses to works by Choo Keng Kwang, Tan Tee Chie, Koeh Sia Yong, and Chua Mia Tee. For the analysis of these artworks, Erwin Panofsky’s Theory of Iconography and semiotic theory were also applied. The findings revealed that the way existing National Gallery spaces are curated promotes a single narrative of progress that does not acknowledge the diverse histories and experiences of artists and visitors. Discussions of the artworks tend to be apolitical, omitting specific historical examples as contextual knowledge. This research offers up alternative methods for reading the six artworks by the abovementioned artists and consequently suggests an alternative approach to curation that encourages audiences to engage in discursive critical discussions and consider the political messages conveyed through the artworks’ details. The display of the pieces should include knowledge of specific historical facts, engage viewers in a more constructivist manner and focus less on nostalgic self-reflexivity.

Name: Amirahvelda Priyono
Thesis Title: Photography and Archive in Cambodia and Vietnam: The Artists’ Responses to the Trauma and Memory of the War
Thesis Abstract
From 1955 to 1979, the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge were indispensable incidents in Southeast Asia, especially in Vietnam and Cambodia. Attracting hoards of international journalists and photographers, people may see thousands of photo documentation across the press media worldwide. In this case, war photography was the most important because it is straightforward to recognise certain incidents visually. In addition, a photographic archive has different treatment in how an institution creates an inventory for keeping the memory alive. Ly Daravuth, Kim Hak, Dinh Q. Lê, and Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai are representatives from Cambodia and Vietnam who take advantage of photographs as the primary medium of artistic practice. Their works reflect the war and its aftermath through their personal and other memories to illustrate trauma as survivors. This thesis investigates their responses to the memory and trauma of the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge. This thesis examines their photographic practice methods, historical approach, and comparative studies in three contexts.In addition, the utilisation of photographic archives from each artist is considerable to illustrate photographic practice and support comparative studies.

Name: Ankita Chatterjee
Thesis Title: “The Wounded Rhetoric”: Representation of Trauma in Indian Contemporary Art since the Babri Mosque Demolition of 19912
Thesis Abstract
The Babri Mosque demolition in India in the early 1990s has been the most complex political issue that has exemplified the collapse of communal harmony in the country.
It became the most prominent source of communal trauma and instigated purpose driven professionals to protest and bring about a national revolution, demanding
secularism and uniformity of vision. This thesis focuses on studying this socio-political event in the history of India to record an interpretation of the impact communal trauma had on the artistic practice of notable art practitioners. Drawing on the theory of psychobiography, this thesis aims to make connections between autobiographical
memory and the experience of trauma. It investigates the concept of religion and declares it as a potent influence on personal identity. It asserts the existence of continuity of memory that eventually prevents the fading away of trauma. The thesis discusses all the above elements by analysing biographical evidence and the artistic practice of Vivan Sundaram, Sheela Gowda and Rummana Hussain in particular. It gradually advances into decoding the iconography of other artworks created during and after the Godhra train incident of 2002.

Name: Fausta Tan
Thesis Title: The River Runs Through: Investigating the role and influence of the Singapore River in the works of Cheo Chai-Hiang and Debbie Ding to evoke memories and shape identity
Thesis Abstract
The paper explores Singapore’s historical icon, the Singapore River as an influence in the artworks of two Singaporean artists to evoke memories and shape identity on a personal and collective level. This thesis examines how the artists have applied in their creative designs Henri Lefebvre’s theories on space and Merlin Coverley’s research on the practice of psychogeography to engage audience and tap on their memories to create new imagined ones for a sustainable future. Another practice that this thesis explores the practice of psychogeoforensics, a neologism coined by psychogeographer and artist Debbie Ding as an exercise of investigation to document and map fragments of Singapore’s lost past in the hope that the preservation of these artefacts would be a source of historical objectivity, culture, and knowledge. In pursuing their intended objectives, the artists have created a tabula rasa for their viewers to confront and think about issues such as persona and national identity and social concerns like urbanisation.

Name: Jenevieve Kok
Thesis Title: The Art of War: Conflict and Nationalism in the Japanese Paintings of the Second World War
Thesis Abstract
This thesis investigates the two main forms of Japanese painting during the Second World War: yōga (Western-style) war documentary paintings and nihonga (Japanese-style) paintings by independent nationalist artists. Under the Japanese military’s commission, the yōga war painters created dynamic oil paintings that documented scenes of war, inspiring both Japanese civilians and soldiers. Their militaristic paintings visually propagated the tenets of wartime ideology through three predominant subject matter: (1) non-combat scenes of Japanese soldiers; (2) meetings of Japanese generals and the surrender of their enemies; and (3) land, aerial, and naval battles. The independent nihonga artists were fervent nationalists who enthusiastically expressed their nationalistic beliefs and inconspicuously embedded the wartime ideology through traditional Japanese aesthetics. Unlike the yōga war painters, their works were devoid of express references to the contemporary conflict of WWII. Instead, they embodied the powerful ideological doctrines in their scenes of Japan’s nature, historical warriors, and idealised women. Despite their antithetical imagery, these artists shared a common goal. They dedicated their artistic careers to fight the war on the “cultural front”, and they strove to embody Japan’s wartime ideology in their paintings and foster nationalism in the Japanese people.