FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUNDARAM TAGORE GALLERY PRESENTS WORK BY EIGHT FEMALE ARTISTS FROM ACROSS ASIA DURING SINGAPORE ART WEEK 2025
Exhibition title: Disobedient Bodies: Reclaiming Her
Exhibition dates: January 11 – March 8, 2025
Exhibition curator: Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani
Venue: Sundaram Tagore Gallery, 5 Lock Road 01–05, Gillman Barracks, Singapore
Open: Tuesday–Friday 11 am–6 pm, Saturday 11 am–7 pm
Contact us: press@sundaramtagore.com / 65 6694 3378
Sundaram Tagore Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of works by noted women from seven Asian countries. On view will be new and recent works by Nadiah Bamadhaj (b. 1968, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia), Peihang Benoît (b. 1984, Taiwan), Lê Hiền Minh (b. 1979, Vietnam), Maria Madeira (b. 1966, Timor-Leste), Charmaine Poh (b.1990, Singapore), Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook (b. 1957, Thailand), Soe Yu Nwe (b. 1989, Myanmar) and Pannaphan Yodmanee (b. 1988, Thailand).
Working across a range of mediums, the artists deconstruct rigid ideologies related to race, identity, tradition and sexuality. Whether it’s confronting historic trauma such as the abuse of Timorese women by
the Indonesian military (1975–1999) or exploring contemporary concerns including reframing notions of parenting, their work sheds light on critical issues impacting women across the region and internationally.
At a time when female artists from countries such as Burma, Timor-Leste and Vietnam remain underrepresented on the global stage, this exhibition shines a much-needed spotlight on talent from Southeast Asia.
STATEMENT BY THE CURATOR
Disobedient Bodies: Reclaiming Her is a project by women about women. Yet it is not a feminist manifesto, but a bridge to foster dialogue between patriarchal social expectations and self-ownership. As such the show hinges on the idea of disobedience from a cultural and physical perspective, on one hand questioning social myths based on gender and race stereotypes, and on the other challenging the idea of the transforming female body from motherhood to objectification, and how body parts are understood as signifiers that define and precede female identity. To do so, Disobedient Bodies: Reclaiming Her brings together eight female artists of different generations from Asia, each presenting newly commissioned and existing works spanning painting, photography, sculpture and video installation to examine narratives of emancipation and autonomy. While some of the works acutely emphasize the inherent condition of the female body as the beginning of all things—the vessel, the giver, the fighter—other works challenge traditional social order to explore gender diversity and the right to subjective choices over our own body.
From exploring the trope of woman as motherland and presenting works equally invested in the essence of motherhood, to questioning intimate and social narratives of survival, all featured works in the exhibition share the same impetus of Reclaiming Her, gently but firmly, even at the cost of disobeying entrenched rules. At a time of seemingly progressive social equality, hierarchy of gender persists. This exhibition hinges on the significance of and the struggle to deconstruct gender narratives, including means of circulation and censorship, which define or prevent public debate. As such Disobedient Bodies: Reclaiming Her is curatorially intended as an audience-centred exhibition, where the works function as instigators of reflection.
—Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani
Disobedient Bodies: Reclaiming Her will be accompanied by a digital publication featuring an in-depth curatorial essay by Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani that discusses the artists’ work and their global relevance.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Nadiah Bamadhaj (b. 1968, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia) creates work in response to the sociopolitical landscape of her birth country as well as Indonesia, where she is currently based. Her new collage works juxtapose fabrics—adorned with motifs including wombs ringed with fire and stop signs—with male extremities exploring ideas of resistance and emancipation. Bamadhaj has exhibited at institutions including the Singapore Art Museum; the Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta; and National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.
Paris-based painter Peihang Benoît (b. 1984, Taiwan) merges personal narratives with broader explorations of time, space, memory, body, identity and generational history. Her new paintings in the show are a raw, visceral exploration of motherhood. Benoît has exhibited at the Macau Museum of Art; Tokyo University of the Arts; and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, among other institutions.
Lê Hiền Minh (b. 1979, Vietnam) is exhibiting a video work as well as new sculptural works cast from handmadeVietnamese dó paper. A highlight of the show is a sculpture of a rifle used in the Vietnam War studded with elongated fingernails addressing violence and exploitation of women. Minh has exhibited at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan; Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts; and Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum, Hanoi.
Maria Madeira (b. 1966, Timor-Leste) is known for her evocative performances and installations, which interrogate Indonesia’s invasion of Timor-Leste. She is showing mixed- media works that explore the abuse and trauma faced by Timorese women. Madeira uses local materials such as tais (a handwoven traditional textile) and natural pigments from betel nuts and red earth. Her work was featured in Timor-Leste’s inaugural pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in the exhibition Kiss and Don’t Tell.
Charmaine Poh (b. 1990, Singapore) is a Berlin-based Singaporean artist, documentary filmmaker, and writer who explores issues of visibility and representation relating to Asian feminist and queer experiences. In 2023, her work was featured in a solo exhibition comprising video, audio and live performance at the Singapore Art Museum. In 2024, two of her short films were screened at the central exhibition of the 60th Venice Biennale.
Pioneering artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook (b. 1957, Thailand) explores life, death and spirituality in her haunting video installations. She is debuting a video about her relationship with a stray dog, which raises questions about conventional notions of motherhood. Rasdjarmrearnsook has participated in the Venice Biennale (2005) and Documenta (2012). Her work is in the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Singapore Art Museum; and Asia Society, New York.
A third-generation Chinese immigrant in Myanmar, ceramicist Soe Yu Nwe (b. 1989, Myanmar) creates handwrought sculptures using porcelain, found objects and precious materials. Inspired by female figures in Buddhist mythology, her latest works explore freedom and independence. She has shown her work at the Thailand Biennale (2023) and Jakarta Contemporary Ceramics Biennale (2016). She has also exhibited at institutions including the ArtScience Museum, Singapore; British Museum, London; and Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul.
Pannaphan Yodmanee (b. 1988, Thailand) originally trained in traditional Buddhist temple painting and restoration. Today, she creates site-specific installations resembling crumbling architectural ruins. Her new installations, which blend Buddhist motifs with Christian iconography, examine different facets of femininity and the role of women. Yodmanee’s public collections include the Singapore Art Museum; Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Australia; and Yuz Museum Shanghai. In 2024, she had a solo presentation at the Benesse House Museum on Naoshima Island, Japan.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani is an independent scholar and curator of Southeast Asian contemporary art. Her research and curatorial practice revolve around critical sociopolitical issues in Southeast Asia, advocating a counter-hegemonic and non- Western-centric discourse.
Her articles have appeared in several academic journals including Visual Anthropology, and Photographies, Routledge, United Kingdom; and University of Westminster, London; Frames Cinema Journal, University of St Andrews, Scotland; A Convocarte: Revista de Ciências da Arte, University of Lisbon, Portugal; and M.A.tter Unbound, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, among others. Together with Patrick D. Flores, she co-edited the anthology Interlaced Journeys: Diaspora and the Contemporary in Southeast Asian Art, 2020, published by Osage Publications, Hong Kong. Notable museum exhibitions she has curated include Jakkai Siributr: Matrilineal, 100 Tonson Foundation, 2024; and Déjà vu: When the Sun Rises in the West, Art Centre, Silpakorn University Bangkok, 2022; Homecoming/Eventually, Vargas Museum, University of the Philippines, Manila, 2021; Diaspora: Exit, Exile, Exodus of Southeast Asia, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2018; and Architectural Landscapes: SEA in the Forefront, 2015, Queens Museum, New York. Pazzini-Paracciani served as one of the curators for the Bangkok Art Biennale 2022.
ABOUT SUNDARAM TAGORE GALLERY
Sundaram Tagore Gallery has been representing established and emerging artists from around the world since 2000. We champion work that is aesthetically and intellectually rigorous, infused with humanism and art-historically significant. We specialize in paintings, drawings, sculptures and installations with a strong emphasis on materiality. The gallery also has a robust photography program that includes some of the world’s most noted photographers. We have locations in New York, Singapore and London.
For more information, email press@sundaramtagore.com
Or TQPR Thailand, Nuie Titichayapon, nuie@tqpr.com