Womb Series #7

While Han Acrobatics by Tan Oe Pang and Womb Series #7 by Susie Wong both feature human subjects, they do so in different ways.  Here, the human subject is still. An elderly woman, nude, curled into a foetal position. She turns inwards, away from us, not asking to be seen, nor performing for anyone.

Most depictions of female nudity tend to idealise youth and beauty. So why did Wong choose to show an older body, unguarded, unadorned? For centuries, the female nude has been painted by men, often through a lens of desire or aesthetic perfection. But here, a woman paints another woman. It invites us to reconsider how the female body is seen and who gets to do the looking.

Wong’s painting touches on a genre long considered sensitive, even taboo, especially in many Asian contexts where nudity is often mistaken for obscenity. In the 1990s, as new art forms were emerging, Wong, Jimmy Ong and artists associated with Group 90 remained committed to the study of the human figure in their art. At a time when there were no formal platforms for studying the nude, Wong started life drawing sessions in her own home. She created an informal space for women, inviting family and friends who were willing to pose. These sittings were personal. They created space and opportunities for both artist and model to reflect, connect and explore the self.