Art World Database - The go-to online database for all Southeast Asian contemporary artists.

AWDB is an initiative that aims to be the go-to

online database for all information pertaining

to Southeast Asian contemporary artists.

‘Invisible Dragon’, Lê Hiền Minh ,2023. Photo: Laurel Hauge

HIGHLIGHTS

An Uncommon Thread

Group Exhibition - 'An Uncommon Thread'

8 February – 27 April 2025

Hauser & Wirth, Somerset, United Kingdom

‘An Uncommon Thread’ features 10 contemporary artists living and working in the UK. The group exhibition highlights the transformative power of unconventional mediums in evoking personal and collective memories. Each artist demonstrates an unwavering commitment to the integral role materials and techniques play in their creative process. The exhibition includes work by Vietnamese artist KV Duong.

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Group Exhibition - 'All About Eve'

7 February — 8 March 2025

Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery presents All About Eve, a group exhibition co-curated by Soheila Sokhanvari and Kristin Hjellegjerde. Drawing complex dynamics of rivalry, power, and vulnerability, the exhibition traces the history of patriarchy and misogyny, right back to the Biblical story of creation, exploring everything from religious rituals and cosmology to contemporary forms of gender-based inequality.

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Citra Sasmita ‘Into Eternal Land’

Citra Sasmita - ‘Into Eternal Land’

30 January — 21 April 2025

Barbican Centre, London, United Kingdom

Working fluidly across painting, sculptural installation, embroidery and scent, Citra Sasmita's new exhibition at The Curve invites visitors on a symbolic, multi-sensory journey through the 90-metre-long gallery to explore ideas of ancestral memory, ritual and migration.

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Suzann Victor - 'Constellations'

15 January – 2 March 2025

Singapore, STPI Creative Workshop and Gallery

STPI presents Constellations, the second residency exhibition by leading Singaporean artist, Suzann Victor. The exhibition comprises over 20 new artworks from her latest collaboration with the Creative Workshop, inviting viewers to explore the nuanced possibilities of printmaking through light and shadow, and to create their own secondary light-prints on the gallery walls.

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Group exhibition - 'Disobedient Bodies: Reclaiming Her'

11 January - 8 March 2025

Singapore, Sundaram Tagore Gallery

'Disobedient Bodies: Reclaiming Her' is an exhibition of works by noted women from seven Asian countries curated by Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani. Working across a range of mediums, the artists deconstruct rigid ideologies related to race, identity, tradition and sexuality, shedding light on critical issues impacting women across the region and internationally.

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FEATURED GLOSSARY TERM

Batik

Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth and is Javanese (Java, Indonesia) in origin. The root word is bathikan and means “drawing” or “writing”. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a canting, or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap. Batik is now also part of the culture in other parts of Southeast Asia including Malaysia and Singapore.

For example, Nadiah Bamadhaj uses the batik style in her collaged drawings. She replaces traditional iconography with images of stop signs, a womb, and winged feet, which serve as metaphors for control and consent. She is featured in ‘Disobedient Bodies: Reclaiming Her‘ at Sundaram Tagore Gallery in Singapore.

Source: tate.org.uk and the AWDB team.

AWDB highlighted artist: Pacita Abad.

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FEATURED EDITORIAL

AWDB SPOTLIGHT: Interview with James Prapaithong

AWDB speaks to James Prapaithong, a London-based Thai painter whose filmic works explore memory, isolation, and longing. For Condo London 2025 Prapaithong presents a duo exhibition with artist Pam Virada titled ‘Pillows’ presented by Nova Contemporary drawing from Yasujiro Ozu’s cinematic “pillow shots”.

IMAGE BY PREECHA PATTARA, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND NOVA CONTEMPORARY

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