Student artist featured in the 25×25 Exhibition, presenting her acrylic on paper art piece to a group of visitors
Ms Trisha Tay (Right), a student artist featured in the 25×25 Exhibition, presenting her acrylic on paper art piece "Better To Be Alive (Aftermath)" to a group of visitors. Her artwork was inspired by Aung Ko's "We Are Moving" (2013), an acrylic on canvas gifted to SMU by Ian Holliday in 2023.
The exhibition presented 25 diverse artworks created in response to selected pieces from the SMU Art Collection, in collaboration with SMU Libraries. Twenty-five student and alumni artists were invited to respond to 25 artworks, developing original interpretations under the mentorship of artists Deanna Ng and Susie Wong, and poet Yong Shu Hoong. Each participant explored their own method and perspective—whether engaging directly with the themes and subjects of the original works or drawing connections to personal biographies and lived experiences. On view from 22 August to 6 September 2025 at SMU de Suantio Gallery, the exhibition highlighted creative reinterpretations across mediums, including traditional ink paintings reimagined through photography and calligraphy transformed into spoken word.
"The censorship of past traumas, such as in Aung Ko’s We Are Moving (2013), tends to highlight the power of narratives to steer the collective consciousness towards positivity or vice versa, art being one such storytelling device. In times of difficulty or transition, we crave the comfort of stories to counter our expectations of reality—as they naturally progress events towards a resolution that validates and heals our lost inner realities.
However, the visibility of visual art can hamper artists’ ability to create a safe space for the ugly and uncomfortable to exist without intrusion. When people are changed thoroughly by their experiences and take on forms that no longer fit into life as we know it, does an artist’s reconstruction of such events convey their reclamation of their experiences, or enable further regression? How does public perception determine whether these known strangers move forwards, backwards, or towards stagnation? My response is centred on the national narrative around progression—if it leads to erasure or neglect of healing when people or events diverge from an orderly linear trajectory. While we reach for the stars, do we acknowledge those we leave behind?" - Trisha Tay, Year 2, School of Social Sciences
The exhibition presented 25 diverse artworks created in response to selected pieces from the SMU Art Collection, in collaboration with SMU Libraries. Twenty-five student and alumni artists were invited to respond to 25 artworks, developing original interpretations under the mentorship of artists Deanna Ng and Susie Wong, and poet Yong Shu Hoong. Each participant explored their own method and perspective—whether engaging directly with the themes and subjects of the original works or drawing connections to personal biographies and lived experiences. On view from 22 August to 6 September 2025 at SMU de Suantio Gallery, the exhibition highlighted creative reinterpretations across mediums, including traditional ink paintings reimagined through photography and calligraphy transformed into spoken word.
"The censorship of past traumas, such as in Aung Ko’s We Are Moving (2013), tends to highlight the power of narratives to steer the collective consciousness towards positivity or vice versa, art being one such storytelling device. In times of difficulty or transition, we crave the comfort of stories to counter our expectations of reality—as they naturally progress events towards a resolution that validates and heals our lost inner realities.
However, the visibility of visual art can hamper artists’ ability to create a safe space for the ugly and uncomfortable to exist without intrusion. When people are changed thoroughly by their experiences and take on forms that no longer fit into life as we know it, does an artist’s reconstruction of such events convey their reclamation of their experiences, or enable further regression? How does public perception determine whether these known strangers move forwards, backwards, or towards stagnation? My response is centred on the national narrative around progression—if it leads to erasure or neglect of healing when people or events diverge from an orderly linear trajectory. While we reach for the stars, do we acknowledge those we leave behind?" - Trisha Tay, Year 2, School of Social Sciences