~Solo Reflection~ Amanda Heng: Speak To Me, Walk With Me

Though this was a solo trip to Amanda Heng's exhibition at 8Q SAM, it was nonetheless a meaningful experience. (despite being somewhat perturbed by the nudity in some works and not really fathoming why Heng does certain actions in some of her performance works)


On the first floor, Heng looks into discovering one's cultural identity (in Singapore). When I first stepped into the gallery, I was confronted by a fictitious itinerary which lets tourists explore the artifacts found in Singapore, but ironically displayed overseas. [I was allowed to grab a copy of its brochure though.]

In another section of the same level, Heng masquerades as the de facto Singapore Girl, a slogan of Singapore International Airlines. [SIA] Sarong kebayas with patterns not dissimilar to those of real Singapore Girl stewardesses were combined with camo patterns of the army uniform. Can you imagine yourself wearing those outfits, not to mention getting laughed at?

Amanda Heng also poses herself waving in little-known places, as well as landmarks that have since disappeared. [The photograph with her standing near the KTM railway track in Bukit Timah is my personal favourite.] There is also a display of her in Kampong Buangkok, the last kampong still standing in the nation. In a video, she stands near places that are "exotic" or have since been closed/demolished for redevelopment, like the old National Library at Stamford Road, waving continuously, as if she was saying hello or goodbye (to the venue she is at) However, we do not know if she is really saying hello to us (as if she is in a info-ed documentary), or saying goodbye (to the place that is to make way for newer amenities and buildings)


On the third floor, Amanda Heng explores the female identity. Raised in a patriarchal family, Heng ponders about the characteristics that define a modern woman's identity in Singapore.


^ Tiger Balls, Myths and Chinese Man. This installation is a playful rebuttal to Tang Da Wu's Tiger Whip, where lust-filled men are fascinated by the aphrodisiac properties of the tiger's reproductive organ.

In a performance work, S/he, Heng firstly fills her face with peculiar-looking characters that are derived from the English alphabet and the Chinese writing script. Making all sorts of hand gestures and moving around the stage with a swivel chair, she repeats out loud in Chinese, “他／她是他／她。” Especially for those non-Chinese speakers out there, it is crucial to note that the pronunciation of these Chinese characters for "he" and "she" is the same, yet the characters representing them are different and translate to different pronouns in other languages!

"When you are at home, listen to your father. When you are married, listen to your husband. When your husband dies, you become a widow." This work also challenges the notion that women are supposed to submissive to men, no matter what situation they are in! (You can also check out a detailed description of Heng's rationale for performing S/He: click!)

In another performance work, Yours Truly, My Body, Heng looks into the pains women go through during their quest for "perfect beauty", be it via plastic surgery or cosmetic surgery. Firstly, she sticks her head into advertisements idealizing beautiful women and make all sorts of facial movements. In another scenario, with a volunteer hitting the table with a chopper as "background music", Heng scrubs meat (which represents the female body) with blood and immersing vanity posters in the same scarlet fluid, representing one of the so-called pains I've mentioned earlier. I also remembered her mentioning phrases concerning ideal wishes like "first-class beauty" and "million dollars."

(Now why does this picture remind me of a still frame from a Channel 8 drama serial or movie? This is one in a series of photographs in "Another Woman", by the way)

After looking at the two performance works, photographs of Heng with her mother (as part of Another Woman series) fill the walls of the exhibit. Previously, I thought this work was only confined to a sole picture of her and her mother facing each other, with their clothes at the same position they are standing! But in this gallery, this isn't the case. The series of photographs, apparently, explores her relationship with her mother, but also the spaces between the duo.

Although disturbed by the nudity in Dear Mother as mentioned earlier on, there was this little poem that struck me.

Dear Mother
you gave me a life
I want to tell you that this life is meaningful
It needs no labels to make it important.

How do I put this across to you?
Remember
We were already women at birth.
We don't need terms designated for us
To find meaning for our existence.

I wanted so much
For you to look at yourself, to look at me;
To pay attention to yourself as you are
And to pay attention to me as I am.

Look at me,
Hold me,
Touch me,
Speak to me
We will find out ways
We will talk in our own language!

At the other side of 3rd level gallery, Heng reflects on commemorating history. This mainly concerns WWII where the Japanese occupied Malaya and Singapore in the early 1940s until Japan's surrender in 1945. In "I Remember," [which was performed as part of The Necessary Stage's M1 Singapore Fringe Festival], Heng got her back tattooed with the titular words, which was to show contrast between public and personal memories of certain events, in this case the Japanese Occupation, and how historical events shape and influence our daily lives. In addition, she conducted interviews of people who survived this tough period, all of which were recorded into videos. [Poor people, especially when they were still young, or had children, having forced to learn Japanese in school.]

"Missing." It remembers young girls who were victims of infanticide in countries who have a high preference for males. The red strings which aren't shown in this image are used to hang the little cards that depict this plight.

In an adjacent "hidden room," an installation titled "Missing" pays tribute to baby girls who were targets of infanticide. This is reflected in countries (such as India) where boys are preferred over girls, and girls are often frowned upon, no thanks to cultural ideologies. On the floor and ceiling are cards that depict this still-recurring plight. Here are some of them:

By the year 2020, China will have a million more men the women of marriageable age.
In one third of all divorces in China, men rejected their wives because they had borne daughters.
Pressure to produce a family heir has led women to abort female foetuses.
A one-child family policy has intensified a historic bias in China against female children.
Some Singaporean couples are aborting pregnancies because the foetus is the wrong sex.
In India, the additional blessing for a bride is, "May you be the mother of eight sons."
In India, more girls than boys die before they are five years old through negligence.
Female foetuses are aborted because the sex is wrong. But who decides that?
A life is condemned because it is the wrong sex. But who decides that?

Hey! This reminded me of one of my Chinese classes where Miss Pek was discussing about the possible topics for A-Level Oral, one of which was gender inequality. There seem to have no laws that discriminate females here, but there ARE families who still stick to the notion that a male child is all the more better.


Going up to the fourth floor, one of the sections on this level is mainly dedicated to Heng's performance works over the years.


While I may not fully get all the performance works done by Heng, needless to say, Let's Walk is one of the most indispensable works of hers. During that time, Heng had to look for ways to overcome the withdrawal of public funding for performance art. In this series of performance documentaries, Heng and the volunteers holds a shoe in their mouth and hold up a mirror. The challenge for them is to walk backwards, barefoot, while using the mirror to watch where they were going.

Reaction from one of the volunteers for Let's Walk. Feeling the ground was kind of scary for her, eh?
And another response to Let's Walk here.

In another section next door, Heng explores the relationship with the community. Apparently, works under this category often involves interaction with people from all walks of life, as the name implies. This is especially true for Let's Chat, which allowed residents to prepare beansprouts while conversing with Heng at common areas like the void deck, giving a sense of community spirit within each member. It should be noted that Heng's purpose for Let's Chat is to revive the kampong spirit - something that may have faded away with a hectic modern life.

There is another installation of hers that intrigued me. Yup, one of her latest works, Heng's Bathroom Karaoke consists of things typically found in the bathroom such as a shower stall, sink (complete with accessories and equipment!) and toilet bowl, but there is a twist here. There is a television monitor, microphone and a remote control inside that same "bathroom", all of which can be found in a karaoke lounge! Besides, the background music produced gives an atmosphere of a karaoke room. Sadly, I was too shy to try out the karaoke that was playing in the television screen. [But I did imagine myself rehearsing for my OP inside that little room.] Well, apart from testing one's own oratorical skills, Heng thought up of Bathroom Karaoke to reinforce the idea that the learner (of education) should facilitate his own learning, rather than the teacher who facilitates the lesson, without feeling too awkward.

What a lengthy post this has been! Well, I'll learn more about Amanda Heng in the "harder" half of my art syllabus, where she is categorized as an artist that explores the human identity and his relationships in society, in particular, the female. Ta-ta!