At the close of the Singapore Biennale, a recap of  Filipino participation.

WORDS AND PORTRAITS  DUFFIE HUFANA OSENTAL

The appeal of Asian art is in the tension that arises from its attempt to answer questions of identity. With much of Asia being either former colonies, or under the influences of Western powers, identity intrinsically becomes a springboard for artists seeking ways to view the world. 

Singapore, of course, is no stranger to this tension. As a developed microstate with a strong infrastructure that has long served as a hub for different cultures, it’s a natural setting for Asian artists to visually define impressions of national and regional identity. 

The fifth edition of the bi-annual Singapore Biennale, which opened in November of last year and runs until Feb. 26, explores these cross-sections of identity narratives through the practices of 63 visual artists from around South, East, and Southeast Asia.

The curatorial team, led by creative director Susie Lingham, term the project “An Atlas of Mirrors,” as a metaphor to frame the biennale as a navigational guide through the nuances of how Asians perceive themselves, by way of history, community, and their surrounding environment. “Each work presents a different encounter,” said Ms. Lingham at the opening of the Biennale. “They intertwine [our] histories and mythologies, and our relationship with nature. These are shaped to remind us that the world itself has a poetic structure.”

The exhibition space is at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) on Bras Basah Road, a heritage building constructed in the 19^th century that used to house Saint Joseph’s Institution — Singapore’s oldest Catholic school. Auxiliary exhibitions are at different sites nearby — the National Museum of Singapore, the Asian Civilisations Museum, the Peranakan Museum, and the Singapore Management University.

As one of the countries featured, the Philippines itself has perhaps more issues of identity than most Asian nations. An artificial state, whose very name reflects the influence of her colonial past, Filipino perspectives of the world reveals deep insights into her people. Artists Martha Atienza (who was nominated for the prestigious Benesse Prize), Ryan Villamael, Patricia Eustaquio, Gregory Halili, and Dex Fernandez mirrored these perspectives in their works, and in effect, visually represented the insecurities of the Philippines as a nation.

One way to describe the Philippines from this past was as an object of desire — a possession in which to build an empire in Asia. In the main hallway after the entrance of SAM, Patricia Eustaquio’s subtle diptych The Hunter Enters the Woods examines the concept of ‘objects of desire’ through the exoticization of flora and fauna species in Asia by Western colonizers. She then juxtaposes it with its equivalent contemporary counterpart, which is, in part, a sort of neo-colonization through the power of capital. For US$1,000, she was able to name her very own hybrid orchid.

“The story is, an American botanist was looking for this rare orchid in the Philippines,” Ms. Eustaquio explains. “He almost died looking for it, but funnily enough, found it just outside his kubo in Palawan. He eventually named it after himself.” Contrast this with the ease with which it is easy to name a hybrid for anyone with the means, and it becomes clear where contemporary power resides.

Dex Fernandez’s I Wander, I Wonder, acrylic murals commissioned by the Biennale specifically for the outdoor Waterloo Courtyard of SAM, is — by virtue of scale and location — probably one of the artworks that visitors will notice first. The murals are four portraits of Yolanda survivors, framed by the possessions they have managed to salvage from the calamity. “Joyce [Toh, one of the curators of the Biennale] suggested that I interview survivors of Typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban,” says Mr. Fernandez of the genesis of his work. “I interviewed seven people, and brought that down to the four here now.” One of the images, that of an elderly woman, is exceptionally potent because of objects that relate to her son who works in Saudi Arabia, which, Mr. Fernandez explains, “…gives her hope.”

For such dour stories, the murals are, at first sight, surprisingly light-hearted in palette and composition. The colors are vibrant – reminiscent of a fiesta, says Fernandez – and the arrangement of the objects reflects the joyful chaos of a carnival. Through this work, Mr. Fernandez identifies characteristics that Filipinos find in themselves — resilience, optimism, and loyalty.

The real triumph of small stories, however, is Gregory Halili’s Karagatan (The Breadth of the Ocean). A haunting work of eyes painted on 50 mother-of-pearl shells, the exhibition is the product of hard research, with the artist interviewing people living in coastal communities throughout the Philippines. The exhibit is as much about the stories of these people as it is about their relationship with the sea. “The most amazing thing is that, like the sea, they do not have a concept of time,” explains Mr. Halili. This static state of being one with the sea does not always mean respect is shown. Mr. Halili tells of how one of the eyes he depicted belonged to someone who uses dynamite to fish. “There is still that transition, from sea to land,” says Mr. Halili.

His  work, on the second floor of SAM, is a spectacular success and one of the highlights of the Biennale. Display signage advertising the event, seen on Singapore’s public buses, shows a set of his eyes as beckoning images. The quiet power of Mr. Halili’s work draws from these stories, and the artist’s relativist approach to his subjects. Mr. Halili does not seek to judge, but to understand. Through this method, he demonstrates the continued power and relevance of visual art as a medium to mirror the world.

Nearby, Ryan Villamael’s Locus Amoenus feels a little more familiar. For those already acquainted with his cut-out techniques, his contribution to the Biennale is an amplified version that looks to colonize the second-floor glass porch (which can be seen from outside Bras Basah Road) in a manner that emulates how Western powers colonized Southeast Asia. Mr. Villamael used copies of 12 different maps culled from Ateneo’s Rizal Library to create artificial foliage that, when observed from within the glass structure, gives one the feeling of being in a greenhouse. “These are archaic maps, all very significant to our culture,” says Mr. Villamael. “They are of Manila from the Spanish colonial period. The idea using them to create a greenhouse says something about power. Like the more exotic it is, the more desirable it is.” This leads audiences to assume that Locus Amoenus can readily function as a companion piece to Ms. Eustaquio’s The Hunter Enters the Woods in their similar approaches to the connection between exoticization and desire as an impetus for Imperialism.

What has received much attention, however, is Martha Atienza’s Endless Hours at Sea, an immersive video installation that utilizes video, LED lights and air compression to simulate the voyages on cargo ships that many Filipino seamen make. Described as a work that posits the “somewhere” between arriving and departing, this is a striking work that builds on Atienza’s significant piece at the 2016 Art Fair Philippines. The video material itself is of the kilometric stretches of ocean that these journeys pass through, recording even the abrupt changes in current and weather. The fruit of diligent research aboard these ships, Ms. Atienza’s work pushes the boundaries of what visual art can accomplish in terms of media.

Admittedly though, it is a work that requires more effort from its viewers. What is being simulated is not immediately apparent, and the nuance of this work is experiential. Multiple viewings may be necessary, but the degree of thoughtfulness has not escaped the selection committee of the prestigious Benesse Prize. Founded in 1995, it was originally given at the Venice Biennale before its move to the Singapore Biennale in 2016. 

Joining Ms. Atienza at this year’s shortlist of the prize was Bui Cong Khanh of Vietnam, Ade Darmawan of Indonesia, Qiu Zhijie of China, and Pannaphan Yodmanee of Thailand. The Benesse Prize, won by Pannaphan Yodmanee as announced during Singapore Art Week in January, represents another achievement of Singapore as an art center in Asia.

Ultimately, however, the true intent of the Biennale seems to link Singapore with the rest of Asia through art in a common search of identity. A port of exit was always necessary, and the Singapore Biennale is good place to start this journey.   

Duffie Hufana Osental is the Palanca Award-winning editor of Art+magazine.