{"id":221481,"date":"2026-01-07T13:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/221481\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T13:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:29:12","slug":"6-highlights-from-national-gallery-singapores-fear-no-power-women-imagining-otherwise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/221481\/","title":{"rendered":"6 highlights from National Gallery Singapore\u2019s Fear No Power:\u00a0Women Imagining Otherwise"},"content":{"rendered":"

SINGAPORE \u2013 National Gallery Singapore\u2019s (NGS) new exhibition Fear No Power: Women Imagining Otherwise gathers together more than 45 works by five pioneer women artists from the region.<\/p>\n

They are Singapore\u2019s Amanda Heng, Indonesia\u2019s Dolorosa Sinaga, the Philippines\u2019 Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Malaysia\u2019s Nirmala Dutt and Thailand\u2019s Phaptawan Suwannakudt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are six highlights from the show, which opens on Jan 9 and runs till Nov 15. Admission is free. <\/p>\n

Phaptawan Suwannakudt<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Phaptawan Suwannakudt’s The Sun\u2019s Spell (2026).<\/p>\n

ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n

This is a new commission by NGS for the show, and the Thai artist has created a piece that draws deeply from her most intimate childhood memories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The daughter of a mural artist who specialised in Buddhist temple art, Phaptawan grew up immersed in the iconography of religious murals. The Sun\u2019s Spell uses this traditional visual language to depict contemporary, personal stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At a media preview on Jan 6, the artist explains that within the alcove where the work sits, she wants to recreate the sensations she experienced as a child wandering into a temple space where her father worked. <\/p>\n

The striking mural occupying most of the far wall draws the viewer in with warm reds and golds, as well as a wealth of detail, from flying bodhisattva figures to drifting flowers to elephants. The flowers, she says, were inspired by a poem her father recited to her, while the elephants came from her father\u2019s nickname, bestowed by granduncles who owned a herd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Phaptawan Suwannakudt<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nariphon II (1996) by Phaptawan Suwannakudt.<\/p>\n

ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n

This striking work depicting men harvesting girls from a tree draws on a Thai Buddhist myth about a tree that bears fruit in the form of young girls. <\/p>\n

This traditional tale is employed by Phaptawan to discuss a much darker story about child exploitation which she encountered when she was working in the northern Thai province of Phayao. <\/p>\n

She frequented a beef noodle stall where she was waited upon by a 12-year-old girl, who was sold by her parents to a brothel. Phaptawan made this work in response to the shocking normalisation of this practice, and it marked a turning point in her discipline as she began to deal with more social issues, expressed in the visual language she learnt as a child.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amanda Heng<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Detail of She And Her Dishcover (1991) by Amanda Heng. <\/p>\n

ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n

What looks like a regular dinner table at home is subverted by Singapore artist Amanda Heng, who highlights the invisible labour of women in homes and kitchens in this piece. The tablecloth is emblazoned with words such as \u201cdesires\u201d and \u201cfear\u201d, hinting at women\u2019s unacknowledged emotional landscapes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under the dishcover is a mirror with two moon blocks, used in Chinese divination practice, which resemble lips. In its first iteration at the Singapore Art Museum, visitors were encouraged to interact with the work, lifting the cover to discover themselves in the mirror.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dolorosa Sinaga<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dolorosa Sinaga\u2019s Fear No Power (2003).<\/p>\n

ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n

This petite sculpture carries a lot of weight. Created by Indonesian sculptor Dolorosa Sinaga, it is representative of how her practice gave voice to the silenced. It was made to honour the women political prisoners who were detained without trial for their alleged affiliations with Gerakan Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women\u2019s Movement), an organisation known for its radical championing of women\u2019s rights. The influential movement was suppressed by then Indonesian\u00a0President\u00a0Suharto\u2019s New Order regime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the figure is bound and gagged, the slight upward tilt of her head hints at resilience, and the title can be read as an exhortation to hold on to courage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Imelda Cajipe Endaya<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A trio of works by Imelda Cajipe Endaya protesting the construction of a nuclear power plant in Bataan in the 1970s and 1980s, a province vulnerable to seismic and volcanic activity.<\/p>\n

ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n

This eye-catching trio of posters was created to protest the plans by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to build a nuclear plant on the Philippines\u2019 Bataan Peninsula in the 1970s and 1980s. <\/p>\n

The plant\u2019s location near a geological fault line and the volcanic Mount Pinatubo, which eventually erupted in 1991, prompted protests. Endaya took part in street protests, and her work shows women actively participating in the sociopolitical movements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Compare her boldly graphic style with Malaysian artist Nirmala Dutt\u2019s more abstract Anti-Nuclear Piece (Commemoration Of Hiroshima Day) hanging nearby. Dutt draws from the visual language of wayang kulit to express her engagement with global politics.<\/p>\n

Amanda Heng<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Home Service (2003), a project Amanda Heng collaborated on with fellow artists Twardzik Ching Chor Leng and Vincent Twardzik Ching.<\/p>\n

ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI<\/p>\n

In this project which spanned four months, Heng collaborated with fellow artists Twardzik Ching Chor Leng and Vincent Twardzik Ching to offer domestic services to 20 clients in exchange for a conversation about domestic labour. The resulting conversations are documented in a video, along with an advertisement made by the artists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is also intriguing is the detailed paraphernalia on display, with coloured sheets mimicking cheap cyclostyled fliers and brochures advertising Home Service in the familiar lingo employed by domestic maid services. <\/p>\n

The work is part of Heng\u2019s shift from object-based installations of her earlier works to performance pieces such as her famed Let\u2019s Walk (1999), which also addressed notions of female beauty and economic stereotypes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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