Engaging with an artwork in 25x25 Exhibition at 2025 Arts Festival
Two visitors engaged with "Pride and Dignity", an acrylic and oil pastel on canvas artwork by Nicole Wong, in the 25x25 Exhibition at SMU de Suantio Gallery. The work reflected the artist's response to Zwe Mon's "Untitled" (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.
"In response to Zwe Mon’s work on her lived experience as a Burmese woman, I created a piece that holds personal meaning for me, expanding on her work's message of the complexities of womanhood. I wanted to open up further conversation on the topic of being a woman, and being in pain. My lifelong health problems have made me deeply familiar with this subject. On the left, a disturbing representation of physical pain on the body. On the right, emotional pain in the mind. I drew inspiration from how Zwe Mon portrayed the female silhouette, and represented my two figures with the same elongated neck to show the pride and dignity of accepting one’s fate. They lack eyes, as the missing “soul” lies in the viewer.
Being ugly and experiencing pain is an integral part of being human, but the frustration and despair is also proof that we continue to recognise even the worst of it, and that we continue to live on." - Nicole Wong, Year 4, Lee Kong Chian School of Business
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.
"In response to Zwe Mon’s work on her lived experience as a Burmese woman, I created a piece that holds personal meaning for me, expanding on her work's message of the complexities of womanhood. I wanted to open up further conversation on the topic of being a woman, and being in pain. My lifelong health problems have made me deeply familiar with this subject. On the left, a disturbing representation of physical pain on the body. On the right, emotional pain in the mind. I drew inspiration from how Zwe Mon portrayed the female silhouette, and represented my two figures with the same elongated neck to show the pride and dignity of accepting one’s fate. They lack eyes, as the missing “soul” lies in the viewer.
Being ugly and experiencing pain is an integral part of being human, but the frustration and despair is also proof that we continue to recognise even the worst of it, and that we continue to live on." - Nicole Wong, Year 4, Lee Kong Chian School of Business