Performances
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Ayer Hitam: a Black History of Singapore, co-created w Irfan Kasban & Sharon Frese, an original commission by the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, 2019
Nominated for the Life! Theatre Awards 2020 (Best Script)
In this lecture performance, actress Sharon Frese explores the history and influence of the African diaspora in Singapore. She shares images and documents relating to slavery, colonialism, jazz and nationalist struggle, reaffirming the value of black culture in our shared heritage.
Both a history lesson and a theatrical ritual, Ayer Hitam commemorates the black men and women—enslaved, indentured and expatriate—who crossed the oceans into unknown territory. They draw strength from these tides, which Indian convicts called the “black water”—in Hindi “kala pani”, or in Malay “ayer hitam”.
Photo by Irfan Kasban. Published in Black Waters, Pink Sands.
Desert Blooms: the Dawn of Queer Singapore Theatre, dir. Tan Shou Chen, an original commission by Centre 42, 2019.
A lecture performance tracing the history of Singapore theatre from 1985 to 1995 through a queer lens, when playwrights first began to confront taboos surrounding sex work, HIV and religion.
Photo by Daniel Teo. Video available here. Published in Black Waters, Pink Sands.
Painted Shadows: a Queer Haunting of the National Gallery, commissioned for the Substation’s School of Uncommon Knowledge, 2016.
Join poet/activist Ng Yi-Sheng on a walk through Southeast Asia’s queer art history. Moving between chambers of the National Gallery, he will unlock the spaces and artefacts of the institution to reveal hidden stories of oppression, struggle, liberation, love and loss.
Photo by Juria Tomae.