It's been ages since I've last posted here. I also haven't been reading that much. It was a fun journey, albeit short (reading and then actually sitting down and logging about it), and I would definitely come back around to that again.
In the meantime... I'll figure out what I'll use this space for. I have taken down posts in the past before, in a bid to refresh the space. However, since I don't really have a clear idea I'd like to try out in mind... I'll just continually update once in a while...
About today... I ended up having a free day today. Usually I'd just stay home and try to do some stuff. However, as it is my birthday today, I decided to go out to the National Gallery (Singapore, for context) to look at the exhibition. I wound up going through two of the exhibits, the first was at Level 4, the ink paintings of He Xiangning, and the second was at the basement, titled "Fear No Power: Women Imagining Otherwise". There were works by five women from Southeast Asia featured: Amanda Heng (Singapore), Dolorosa Sinaga (Indonesia), Imelda Cajole Endaya (Philippines), Phaptawan Suwannakundt (Thailand), and Nirmala Dutt (Malaysia)
Both were a great experience to wander through. Both were women-centric and involved the idea of women not only being artists but also making use of art as a voice.
Some examples: He Xiangning was very involved in the anti-Qing rebellion movement. Dolorosa Sinaga drew some self-portraits depicting the process of pregnancy and also motherhood. Phaptawan Suwannakudt's mother lived as a Buddhist nun for a while, but the Buddhist society in Thailand is very patriarchic and she left, disillusioned. Some of her art works "honours" (this word is in parentheses because I'm not sure it is the right word for this but I can't think of what other word to use) her mother's experiences. Nirmala Dutt's paintings were very bold and straightforward. She had an artwork titled "Anti-Nuclear Piece", commemorating Hiroshima Day, and it basically depicts the big players of Cold War then as the puppeteers of the villains. What was really fascinating was that she delved into wayang kulit and incorporated elements of wayang kulit into her painting.
Yeah, that's it for today. I really did enjoy my time at the museum. I should actually make it a point to visit more regularly (meaning three or four times in a year. XD That is my idea of regularly.)
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