Arts Picks: Solo exhibitions at Objectifs, Nafa and Lasalle graduation shows, City Reading@SG

Objectifs new space and exhibitions

Objectifs opens three solo exhibitions by the 2023 recipients of the annual Objectifs Documentary Award, including one homing in on elephants by Cambodian artist and journalist Choulay Mech.

The winner of the open category, Mech uses photography, video and found objects to explore the impact of environmental destruction and war on Cambodia’s elephant population.

A scar on her left cornea has limited her vision and pushed her to feel an affinity with animals with disabilities. In the middle of the room, a prosthetic leg of an elephant, bunched wire and draped chain intimate the silhouette of Chhouk, found badly injured in the wild by a poacher’s snare in 2007 and the first elephant in Cambodia to receive a prosthesis.

Mech’s manipulations of her photos, titled An Elephant’s Eyes, also plunge viewers into the thick of the forest, disrupting and sometimes inverting the act of observing these stately animals, which she reminds people are venerated in Hindu tradition.

While there, be sure to check out Objectifs’ new annexe, carved out of the area previously occupied by restaurant Artichoke. This new space includes a darkroom, an artist residency studio, a Junior Lab dedicated to fostering visual literacy among the young, and an open-air area that can be used for screenings, talks and discussions.

Where: Chapel Gallery, Objectifs, 155 Middle Road
MRT: Bugis
When: Till June 16, Mondays to Fridays, 11am to 7pm; Saturdays, noon to 7pm; Sundays, noon to 4pm
Admission: Free
Info:

 

str.sg/i4oya

Nafa and Lasalle Graduation Shows

The graduation shows of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) and Lasalle College of the Arts are currently on, a short walk from each other and promising entertaining encounters.

At Nafa’s Lim Hak Tai Gallery, Seetharam Poorvaja’s paintings on saris, draping from bamboo poles, put her own spin on the art world’s turn to fabric and tapestry.

Her rectangular pieces, titled The March, depict an ongoing conflict in Ennore, Chennai, where fisherfolk and residents are protesting against Coromandel International’s pipelines into the sea after an ammonia leak.

The fine art student has spent time visiting the protest grounds and talking to organisers.

Drenched in blue, primates with cubes for heads bear witness to the fight while an inverted earthen pot empties itself, a potent symbol of ancestral rage.

At Lasalle, one to watch out for is the mixed-media, hand-bound book sculpture by Lim Yi Jern that plays with textures via paper cutting, moulded objects, trompe l’oeil painting and other methods.

Titled Tales From Lives, the charming artefact is a meticulous construction and a clear labour of love by the student pursuing a master’s in art therapy.

Where: Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, 80 Bencoolen Street, and Lasalle College of the Arts, 1 McNally Street
MRT: Bugis/Rochor
When: Nafa, till June 22, noon to 7pm; Lasalle, till May 29, Mondays to Saturdays, noon to 7pm
Admission: Free
Info: 

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City Reading@SG

Formerly the Singapore Book Fair, City Reading@SG is an annual festival organised by SPH Media’s Chinese Media Group.

In 2024, it teams up with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts to organise a variety of literary and artistic activities from May 24 to June 2, including literary lectures, book launches, workshops and a book fair at Bras Basah Complex.

Among those who will be in town are award-winning Chinese science-fiction writer Wang Jinkang, who will talk about the rapid development of the genre; popular travel and online writer Peter Su from Taiwan discussing learning to say goodbye; and Ms Mercy Wu, chairman of Eslite Group, sharing the challenges she faced running one of the largest retail bookstore chains in Taiwan during the pandemic.

Where: Nafa, 80 Bencoolen Street; Bras Basah Complex, 231 Bain Street
MRT: Bugis/Rochor
When: May 24 to June 2, various timings
Admission: Free
Info:

str.sg/bnfU