Ask Anything Art: Chen Cheng Mei

Have you ever visited one of our exhibitions and left with more questions than you had when you first stepped into the Gallery?

Check out “Ask Anything Art”, a video series where educators and curators answer questions from students.

The episode below is about Chen Cheng Mei, a Singaporean artist who lived in Singapore but travelled extensively to Southeast Asia, Africa, South Asia and Latin America in search of inspiration for her art. Watch it to find out more about the importance of frames and artwork donations.

See more works by Chen Cheng Mei in the inaugural exhibition of Dalam Southeast Asia, The Tailors and Mannequins: Chen Cheng Mei and You Khin, when it opens later this month on Friday 29 October. Dalam Southeast Asia is the Gallery’s new project space. Located within the UOB Southeast Gallery, this space will present two projects each year that ask critical questions and explore lesser-known narratives in Southeast Asian art.

The Tailors and Mannequins looks at the works of two artists, Chen Cheng Mei and You Khin, to explore how artists expressed their curiosity about the unfamiliar. Even though Chen and You Khin did not know each other, and were born two decades apart, both of their practices shared a consciousness: that the people and cultures they were representing in their works cannot be completely understood from the outside.