Examining queer men's negotiation of public space, and transgender people's identities in Singapore
Presented by Exactly Foundation
Lower Gallery, Objectifs
28 Jun to 7 Jul 2019
Tue to Sat, 12pm to 7pm / Sun, 12pm to 4pm
Admission is free
Please note this exhibition is rated Restricted 18 (Homosexual and Transgender Content). Age-checks may be required prior to entering the gallery.
Opening Reception and Book Launches: Thurs 27 Jun, 7pm
Gallery Walk with the Artists: Thurs 27 Jun, 8pm to 9pm (RSVP at http://exactlyjune.peatix.com)
About Commonplace
By Jason Wee
Commonplace is “inspired by Arthur Yap’s poetry, as well as the furtive, coded, partially hidden walks, postures and other moves that queers make in order to claim and revise the normative orientations of public space as their own.” Jason Wee thinks of this as a choreography and is interested in the ways that photographs might help plot this syntax. He is also interested in these men’s desires, secrets and preoccupations.
About Writing on the Wall
By Grace Baey
For each transgender person, the journey of transitioning often involves pain, anxiety and social isolation. At the same time, it is also marked with joy, anticipation and fulfillment, that perhaps this is a calling from nature that is impossible to ignore — like the writing has always been on the wall. In Writing on the Wall, Grace Baey documents transgender people in Singapore and their experiences.
Press:
CNN Style: Pride and prejudice: Photos shed light on the struggles of Singapore’s transgender community
Two books documenting their residencies will also be launched at the exhibition opening. They will also guide visitors through a gallery walk of their exhibitions.
About Jason Wee
Jason Wee is an artist, writer and curator working between contemporary art, architecture, poetry and photography. His decades-long art practice often contends with sources of singular authority by exposing alternative readings that favour polyphony and difference. In this way, he transforms histories and spaces that have been viewed through a single lens into visual and written materials that expose their secrets and their futures, their idealisms and their conundrums.
Particularly interested in Asia / Southeast Asia, Jason spends time investigating complexities especially of urban development but, importantly, his practice often circles back to the notion of personal empowerment. He has exhibited widely in Singapore and abroad. He also founded Grey Projects, a gallery, publisher and exchange programme in Singapore.
About Grace Baey
Grace Baey is a Singapore-based photographer with an interest in social issues. A human geographer by training, she is especially interested in questions of place, identity and belonging. Her current work deals with issues of social marginalisation, with focus on the transgender community in Southeast Asia and Singapore. Grace made the shift from academic research to photography around 2015. She won the 2018 Objectifs Documentary Award (Emerging Category) to continue her project Writing on the Wall.
About the Exactly Foundation
Exactly Foundation is a not-for-profit, trademarked registered label established by Li Li Chung. Photographers are commissioned to create photography to stimulate discussion of social concerns in Singapore. The Exactly Foundation’s goal is to produce new knowledge amongst viewers by engaging with and sharing the photographs with family and friends over a three-month period.
Header image: (L) from Commonplace by Jason Wee and (R) from Writing on the Wall by Grace Baey