Ely Nayir is a docent at the National Gallery Singapore and with Friends of the Museums. The years as an arts and heritage volunteer was the catalyst for her to pursue formal studies, initially in Art & Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London and subsequently the MA Asian Art Histories programme at LASALLE. She has a background in broadcasting, public relations, media training and marketing in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, and she aims to raise more awareness of Southeast Asia’s complex and diverse visual culture. For the master’s degree, she produced papers on a range of topics such as the politics in 19th century landscape prints of Singapore, cubism in Nanyang art, ASEAN’s 36 Ideas from Asia exhibition, private museums in the art market ecosystem, and repetition as the unspoken language and method in the works of Indonesian performance artist Melati Suryodarmo. Ely is also training in clinical hypnotherapy and she hopes to bring to viewers a more mindful experience and personal connection with artworks.