Though we are nearing the end of the year, there are still plenty of events to look forward to. National Gallery Singapore (NGS)’s Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America exhibition until Mar 24, 2024, is a great choice if you only have time for one big show.
Although their geographical distances place them thousands of kilometres apart, the exhibition demonstrates how the two regions have many similarities. Billed as the world’s first large-scale exhibition to take a comparative approach between the artistic practices from both regions, it examines what they share in common – especially following colonialism.
The exhibition takes place at NGS’ Singtel Special Exhibition Galleries and various locations around the museum. Embracing a defiant attitude, it explores the vibrant narratives of artists, dreamers, and writers who sought to become the new torchbearers of modern art by the 1950s, as self-determination took root. They believed they had a distinct advantage over their colonisers, possessing an equal ability to paint, speak and write while responding to the issues of the time and the desires of their people.
The 200-plus paintings, sculptures, drawings, performances, and sensory installations by more than 70 artists – including Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Paul Gauguin, Malaysia’s most revered painter Latiff Mohidin and Singaporean Cheong Soo Pieng – span the breadth of the 20th century.
Several of the pieces, such as Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Monkey, are showing in Singapore for the first time. One of Kahlo’s most recognised compositions, the spider monkey symbolises the children she was unable to bear due to a severe, chronic illness and her emotional pain experienced during her divorce from Diego Rivera. The tehuana huipil, a traditional handmade blouse, signifies her identification with the matriarchal society of Zapotec women from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico.
Workers, fruit sellers, freedom fighters, and women – often overlooked in colonial art – also take centre stage in the exhibition, which extends across three galleries, each exploring distinct themes, The Myth of the Lazy Native, This Earth of Mankind, and The Subversive, and challenging dominant colonialist stereotypes.
An anything-but-ordinary exhibition, NGS has also thoughtfully designed an experimental format filled with floating artworks on “crystal easels”, wearable installations (one with birds, plants, sand, and more), and interactive experiences that are free for public viewing at City Hall Chamber, Singapore Courtyard, and at the Coleman entrance. Making its Southeast Asian debut, Hélio Oiticica’s Tropicália, for instance, is set within the historic City Hall Chamber.
In addition, visitors are invited to participate in the exhibition by wearing sensory masks and goggles, dancing around in capes, browsing reading materials in a “library” in the middle of the exhibition space, and engaging with sensory objects through guided movements and interactions.
Exhibition admission prices are $15 for locals and $25 for standard tickets. There is an online discount of 10 percent for tickets purchased online until Dec 31 this year. Gallery Insiders enjoy free unlimited access to the exhibition. Get yours here.
All photos courtesy of National Gallery Singapore.
