LGBT art in Singapore, or queer art in Singapore, broadly refers to modern and contemporary visual art practices that draw on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender+ imagery and themes, addressing topics such as LGBT rights, history and culture in Singapore. Such queer art practices are often by Singaporean or Singapore-based visual artists and curators who identify as LGBT+ or queer.
Queer visual art is a notable countercultural facet of contemporary Singaporean society, which currently criminalises, albeit unenforced, consensual, private sexual acts between men (legal for women) through the continued presence of laws such as Section 377A of the Penal Code.
As homosexuality has been considered a taboo subject, practitioners in Singapore have historically contended with a host of limitations, with the avoidance of positive queer representation in local mainstream media, to operating with the risk of being blacklisted by the state, or vilification due to homophobia and transphobia from conservative aspects of wider Singaporean society. Ever since the early 2010s however, LGBT+ topics have been gradually liberalised, with regular discussions about such topics in the public sphere and local mainstream media. This was also in tandem with the rise of Pink Dot SG, which has now also influenced such events in many countries around the world.
In Singapore's contemporary art history, openly out queer artists whose art practices engage with notions of queerness have been documented since the 1980s. Queer art practices from Singapore have also been exhibited internationally, more often beyond the specific curatorial framework of a queer art exhibition. These art practices are loosely connected, and not determined by a specific medium, spanning wide-ranging forms such as performance art, installation art, video art, drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, film, and mixed media, for instance.
Regulations
Practitioners of LGBT+ visual arts have to contend with various restrictions imposed by Singaporean law. Alongside Section 377A of the Penal Code, which de jure but not de facto criminalises consensual, private sexual acts between men, strict censorship laws remain in place regarding LGBT+ representation in Singapore, among other sensitive topics.
At the end of May 2005, in an amendment to the Public Entertainment and Meetings Act (Chapter 257), nine categories of arts entertainment events including "displays or exhibitions of art objects or paintings" were exempted from having to apply for a Public Entertainment Licence from the Media Development Authority (MDA). The decision was made after consultation with MDA's arts advisory groups, following the recommendations of the 2003 Censorship Review Committee appointed by the Government arts watchdog of the time, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MITA) to exempt more arts entertainment from licensing. The 2005 exhibition at The Substation, Bao Bei, by Singaporean artist Jason Wee, which featured pixelated male genitalia, was mentioned in the press release and deemed to be "innocuous" by the state.
History
Early contemporary activity (1980s to 1990s) From the 1980s to 1990s, artists such as Jimmy Ong, Teng Nee Cheong, and Ho Soon Yeen were notable for being some of the few openly queer artists of the time, or whose practices engaged with notions of queerness in Singapore. Ong's work from the 1980s, for instance, would feature black-and-white charcoal drawings that depicted nude, queer male bodies in various contexts and relationships. Around the same period in the 1980s, Teng would be known for figurative works across watercolour, pastel, charcoal and oil, with sensual and homoerotic depictions of male nudes.
In 1992, as part of The Substation's New Criteria exhibition series, Ho would exhibit alongside artist Dominique Hui for We Kissed, a show that would explore notions of sexuality through drawings, collages, and three-dimensional works. One of her paintings on display was a self-portrait, titled Monkey & Thinker, now in the collection of NUS Museum and shown at their 2017 exhibition, Radio Malaya: Abridged Conversations About Art.
From 20 to 28 February 1993, Singapore artist Tan Peng and US artist, John C. Goss held an exhibition entitled Flowing Forest, Burning Hearts at The Substation gallery, and Tan notably came out publicly in mainstream press as a gay man. Tan's large pastel drawings tackled topics such as HIV caregiving and police entrapment.