In an exhibition opening this month at Chan Hampe Galleries, the artist Green Zeng explores the politics and propaganda of Singapore through photos of billboards created for Singapore’s Golden Jubilee.Entitled “Shifting Dioramas,” the exhibition is composed of photographs of the SG50 billboards celebrating Singapore’s National Day and its 50th anniversary in 2015. Over the staged scenes of political leaders, smiling Singaporeans, and national unity, Zeng has superimposed outlines of the constituency boundaries within which he found these advertisements. By doing this, he hopes to reveal the possible political motives behind these seemingly neutral images.Across 27 electoral districts, Zeng marks the subtle changes in imagery, critiquing how events and images can be manipulated or used for political advantage, and highlighting how different these images can be, even in neighboring areas.Also, as constituencies shift, the meanings of these works shift. “Shifting Dioramas” aims to turn the electoral boundaries themselves into works of art, “unfinished drawings” that remain “a work in progress” according to the gallery. In making us aware of these boundaries as artworks, he invites us to consider how they are constructed with a certain purpose, just as any artist or photographer’s work is composed or constructed.As Zeng said in a statement following his nomination for the Signature Art Prize in 2014, his work investigates “how history is scripted, perceived, and disseminated,” as well as “the construction and manipulation of Singapore’s national narrative and how the history-making process has shaped national identity.”These interests have informed Zeng’s career up to this point, leading to such work as “Malayan Exchange,” a 1999 show in which he reimagined Singapore’s currency to include forgotten activists and other aspects of the country’s history; his film “The Return” (2015), which was selected for the Venice International Film Critics’ Week; and now the pieces in “Shifting Dioramas.”“Shifting Dioramas” runs March 17-April 10 at Chan Hampe Galleries.
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