Artist statement:
The dance is often performed in a way that determines the sexual politics and relations between man and woman. This is perpetuated in filmic representations; whether as Romance or Seduction, the woman becomes the object of desire, only waiting to be consumed: to be flung bodily in frenzied waltzes, or cha chas, or jogets.

Wordlessly, silently, here, these women dance alone. 

Artist statement:
I grew up reading the comics of Lat, the famous Malaysian artist known for his iconic depictions of everyday life, the people around him, and every now and then, socio-political commentary of the state of affairs in Malaysia. My dad, an illustrator and a fan of Lat’s work too, had a stash of Lat’s old comics in a cupboard. Being an avid illustrator myself, as a kid I would try and imitate what I had seen from Lat’s comics along with other influences from other comics. I enjoy wild and exaggerated depictions of regular folk and poking fun at stereotypes along the way. I remember trying to figure out whether this and that ambiguous-looking character was Malay, Chinese or Indian, and giving up altogether later. I would carry this enjoyment of looking at drawings and depictions of the human figure with me as I grew up and began pursuing a life and career as a figurative artist as well.

Artist statement:
Dances on Their Own marks Wee’s return to the strategies of abstraction in landscape images, as well as the category of ‘the photographic’. Each of these images can be thought of as composites of every other image in the set and comprises both extreme close-ups and landscape views. The artist follows queer bodies through an unspecified location in Singapore, as these individuals cross and re-cross the area looking for each other.

Artist statement:
To Mother hopes to expound on the different expectations of the parent-child relationship that may not necessarily coincide with reality. It hopes to delve into the grief and loneliness one encounters when their preconceived perception of any of these two labels clashes. The series explores the several misconceived notions that motherhood may bring about; for it is the same type of motherhood that refuses to detach itself from the idealism and punishes the parent when they go against the rigid and unforgiving system.

Artist statement:
When I first encountered the footages and finally was comfortable enough to work on them, I was very much reminded of Trinh T. Minh-Ha’s idea of “speaking nearby” as an approach. According to Trinh T. Minh-Ha, this process of “speaking nearby” refers to “a speaking that does not objectify, does not point to an object as if it is distant from the speaking subject or absent from the speaking place. A speaking that reflects on itself and can come very close to a subject without, however, seizing or claiming it. ^[1]

[1] "Speaking Nearby:" A Conversation with Trinh T. Minh–ha, Nancy Chen, Visual Anthropology Review, Vol. 8, Issue 1, March 1992, p. 82-91

Artist statement:
No-Corner is a series of works that uses stickers pasted within a defunct residential area (of the artist sitting in different positions suggesting the “lepak one corner” stereotype) that are meant to disappear along with the expired space.

Artist statement:
Transcendental Water Bodies is a series of photographs which depict three women invoking Goddesses who rule over waterbodies, such as the sea and river, found in different regions of Asia. The Goddesses Mazu, Nyai Roro Kidul and Ganga appear to bear the exact resemblance as the women invoking them, making us wonder if the Goddesses appeared within them as a result of their invocation or appeared before them as a reflection of their own selves.

Artist statement:
My current artistic research looks at the painting Malay Boy with Bird (1953) by artist Cheong Soo Pieng as a point of departure. The painting features a “Malay boy” wearing a red top and a trope-like Songkok amongst other strange details. Here, the painting is odd for a few reasons, one being, the blue-toned skin and bare buttock.

My attraction towards the painting is conflicted. While artists like Cheong are known for oeuvres consisting of subject matters that simultaneously defines the "Nanyang" while exoticising native bodies, Malay Boy with Bird (1953) presents a strange proposition. Here, I am interested in the radicality of the picture beyond the binaries of good and bad, especially one towards an expansive vision.

Artist statement:
Sontol Al Loyo: The Elegy of a Man and His Weapon of Choice is an exploration into the concept of identity and the spectacle. A fictional character, Sontol Al Loyo is a self-proclaimed pop legend with a vast ego. Through the adoption of hype and the ‘ready-made’ idol, the work is an investigation into the affects of the media. The name Sontol Al Loyo, adapted from the Javanese slang sontoloyo meaning “idiot”, suggests how the concept of the idol while being a product of popular culture, is merely a manipulated identity—falling into idolatry as an indication of an innate desire to be idolised. Through this work, the space is opened up for us to re-think our role in society; how we are shaped by - yet also shape - a cultural system of narcissistic idol-worship that creates mechanisms of suppression rather than an actualisation of the self. Underlying this is a sense of loss; as if with the birth of the superstar persona, the artist at the same time, mourns the demise of individuality.