Midpoint: Rajinder Singh

‘Saffron Surrender’ at Wei-Ling Gallery
By Ian Tee

Midpoint is a monthly series that invites established Southeast Asian contemporary artists to take stock of their career thus far, reflect upon generational shifts and consider the advantages and challenges of working in the present day. It is part of A&M Dialogues and builds upon the popular Fresh Faces series.

Rajinder Singh.

Rajinder Singh (b. 1964, Ipoh, Malaysia) is an artist and researcher working in Dublin and London. His practice explores ideas around the vulnerable body and its pain, interrogating the economies of power that deny it space and shape. Rajinder has presented more than 30 solo shows internationally and his work is in the collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, The Glucksman Museum, and the Arts Council of Ireland. We begin this conversation by talking about Rajinder’s latest solo exhibition ‘Saffron Surrender’ (2024) at Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur. 

Rajinder Singh, ‘Saffron Surrender’, 2024, exhibition view at Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur. Photo by Ruth Phng. Image courtesy of the artist and Wei-Ling Gallery.

Rajinder Singh, ‘A Heavenly Machine’, 2024, oil on canvas, 120 x 250.5cm (triptych - hinged). Photo by Ruth Phng. Image courtesy of the artist and Wei-Ling Gallery.

Your ongoing solo exhibition ‘Saffron Surrender’ features nine large scale paintings that nod to the genre of European history painting, with depictions of epic battles and heroic portraits. Where do the stories and imagery in this new body of work come from? Who are the main subjects in this cast of characters? 

In ‘Saffron Surrender’, I want to tell a story from my personal and communal memory of a Sikh diaspora living in Malaysia. In fact, I want to tell three stories of suffering that have left a suppurating wound from a past I do not know, from the collective memories of a community living away from a land they no longer belong. Our reality is after all a bunch of stories we have been told or we tell ourselves, and I have picked three. My stories have characters, plots and settings, like any good story. It includes perspective, style, and structure. I am using my paintings, poems and sculptures to present a set of fictional events through juxtaposition and association, fragmentation and non-linearity, layering and depth and symbolism and metaphor to shape the audience’s engagement and understanding of our colonial inheritances.

I could say that I address these histories in my art because I am interested in understanding my life story and the broader historical context in which it is unfolding. I could also say that I want to connect the dots of my life experiences to help me construct a coherent narrative about my identity.  I guess these are certainly true to a certain extent. But my prime motivation is a kind of rage within me. I am an immigrant artist living in London and I come from a country that was formerly colonised by the British Empire. I am concerned about how these colonial histories have deeply influenced my world, how it has and is shaping cultural, political, and social landscapes. For me, exploring personal and societal histories in my art is a way to process and articulate our personal and collective experiences of colonialism and its lingering effects. It allows us to learn from past mistakes, develop empathy for others' experiences, and cultivate a deeper understanding of ourselves and our world. I think this work is important and urgently needed.

Rajinder Singh, ‘Saffron Surrender’, 2024, exhibition view at Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur. Photo by Ruth Phng. Image courtesy of the artist and Wei-Ling Gallery.

Installation view of 'Pale in Saffron' exhibition of sculptures and paintings by artist Rajinder Singh at the Royal Academy in Dublin, Ireland 2022. Photo by Kate Bowe O’Brien.

The colour saffron is an important motif in your practice. It appears in titles such as ‘Saffron Surrender’ and ‘Saffron Songs’ (2022), as well as in the vibrant colour of the turbans in your work. What is its significance to you and has it changed over time?

The colour saffron is the essence of my artistic practice. The colour often represents purity and spirituality. And for the Sikhs, it represents valour, courage and sacrifice. I think of saffron as a colour that alludes to the weight of an idea, the overflow of the infinite through the fabric of a turban, the stain of a prayer or a blessing, or the connection to the infinite. Perhaps I am pointing to the colour of the turban which signifies martyrdom to some, to the racks of pain and certain death, or perhaps I am alluding to the idea of commemoration to those who sacrificed for the idea of something. With ‘Saffron Songs’ and ‘Saffron Surrender’, I hint at what happens to a turban when it is not one, when it is a trap or a cage or a prosthesis to weightier things.  The significance of saffron continues to evolve with my practice.

“The colour saffron is the essence of my artistic practice. The colour often represents purity and spirituality. And for the Sikhs, it represents valour, courage and sacrifice.”

Rajinder Singh, ‘Ya-ad’, 2011, installation view at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore. Exhibition curated by Jody Neal. Image courtesy of the artist.

Rajinder Singh, 'Cage of Deliverance', 2016, exhibition view at Wei-Ling Contemporary, Kuala Lumpur. Image courtesy of Wei-Ling Gallery.

Looking back, could you share a decision or event that marked a significant turn/moment in your path as an artist?

Growing up, along with a group of fellow amateur artists at primary and secondary school in Ipoh, Malaysia, I was a prolific sketcher of, funnily enough, complex battle scenes and cavalry charges, up until I had to stop. It slowly eroded out of me and I stopped completely for many years. I returned to it in Singapore under the tutelage of the artist James Holdsworth in 2002 at Block 43 Studio Gallery. I felt then that it was time to return to what I loved. I consequently started exhibiting my art, which was then inspired by my other love, mathematics, when I met Adeline Kueh, Ian Woo and Lawrence Chin who taught at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore. They were without doubt powerful influences at the beginning of what is now my 16 years of professional practice.  

In the early years, exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art Singapore and galleries such as Gajah Gallery and Chan Hampe Galleries, and art fairs such as Art Stage Singapore bolstered my confidence as an artist. My ‘Number-Trance-Face’ (2008) and my ‘M.O.L.C.’ (2011) collection of paintings saw some success and I travelled abroad with them. In Malaysia, I showed regularly with Wei-Ling Gallery and I am grateful for the attention I received from some art collectors there. I moved to London soon afterwards where I showed with Stephanie Hoppen Gallery for a number of years.

Rajinder Singh, 'My Sister's Coven', 2019, exhibition view (left) in ‘Narrow Gate’ (2021-22) at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). Collection of IMMA. Photo by Ros Kavanagh.

Rajinder Singh, 'Border Tours', installation view. Presented as part of Tulca Festival of Arts 2020, curated by Sarah Browne. Photo by Ros Kavanagh.

When have been milestone achievements for you as artists, and why have they been particularly memorable?

When I moved again in 2013, this time from London to Ireland, an isle where I have lived longer than anywhere else, I stumbled upon a world that truly revolved around the arts. It was here that I started writing poetry again in earnest and I gradually moved away from painting into sculpture and body-based work which has included film, photography and performance work. 

In 2021, the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and the Arts Council of Ireland purchased several of my sculptures and installations for their national permanent collections. I was also commissioned by The Glucksman, an art museum in University College Cork, Ireland, to produce a movement-based film work which is in their inaugural digital collection. I was an artist in residence for the Masters programme Race, Migration and Decolonial Studies at University College Dublin (UCD), and a member of the migrant artist group Art Nomads. I was supported by the Art Council through bursaries and enjoyed being nominated or shortlisted for awards. All these allowed me to continue making art.

The IMMA played an important part in my milestones in Ireland. I had the privilege of being showcased in their collection as well as working there on several projects. I had the great boon of teaching spatial justice and body-based movement-oriented work at IMMA and at several universities in Ireland, working with some brilliant students, performers and dancers. These were important years in my career as an artist.

Rajinder Singh's studio in Ireland in 2013, with a work-in-progress. Image courtesy of the artist.

Could you describe your studio/ workspace? How has it evolved over the years? What do you enjoy about it, and what do you wish to improve?

I have moved countries and studios several times in the past 20 years. My studios have changed from the single-room all-purpose cramped spaces in Singapore and London, to large cavernous, multi-purpose complexes in Dublin that house multiple studios. My art has adapted accordingly. Smaller spaces like my studio in London now require ingenuity and constant workarounds to ever-changing obstacles related to space and the making of art. I love this about my studio now. It is constantly being morphed for different forms of art making from sculptures to film, from photography to paintings.

What I would like is a studio within a network of other artist studios. It would be lovely to always be around like-minded people. In London, I am always alone.

Rajinder Singh, Pale in Saffron, 2024, a collection of poems published in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Saffron Surrender’. Photo by Ruth Phng.

A photograph from a research project by Rajinder Singh exploring the ways the human body unfolds around various topographic and symbolic borders. With Alina Maria O and Dmitry Vinokurov, 2020. Image courtesy of the artist.

Writing poetry is another aspect of your creative output, in addition to paintings, installations and movement-based works. What is your relationship with these different modes and media? 

I work with poetry, painting, installations, and movement-based works to engage different senses and parts of the body. They are all deeply interconnected. Poetry focuses on language and emotion, painting on visual and tactile sensations, installations on spatial experiences, and movement-based works on the full physical engagement of the body and corporeal knowledges and learnings. Everything eventually revolves around the body. Together, I use these various forms to tackle my particular choice of activism. This is in the hope that it allows for a holistic artistic practice exploring ideas from multiple perspectives and through varied bodily experiences.

What has become easier or more difficult to do as time has gone by? 

I read copiously and broadly, and my art reflects my curiosity and experimental tendency. My art will never stop evolving, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to continue doing the same thing in any of my chosen art projects. Sometimes, I think that the art world persecutes promiscuity in an artist’s chosen style, form and content. I find myself increasingly unable to abide by this.

Rajinder Singh, 'Woundbloom', 2017, presented as part of Wei-Ling Gallery participation in Art Stage 2017 in Singapore. Image courtesy of Wei-Ling Gallery.

What do you think has been or is your purpose? How has your purpose remained steadfast or evolved over the years?

I have not deviated from this one thing: I pay attention to the qualities of active citizenship, and explore the human body as an interface between space, object, and movement. This is to prepare the ground and orientate the body towards politics and its capacity for resistance.

You are a mentor in the WLG Incubator Programme 2024, organised by Wei-Ling Gallery. Could you talk about the experience? What does mentorship mean to you? 

Being an artist means navigating a difficult terrain that is overrun with obstacles… Every lesson is hard fought. To me, mentorship hinges on this characteristic. If I can bolster the resolve of any artist I am mentoring to stay the path, to keep going, to always return to this difficult calling, I have done my job.

Production still from ‘Who Knows That I Live Here With You’ (forthcoming 2025), high definition video with sound, multi-channel with live performance and politicised movement by Susan Gogan working with movement artist Rajinder Singh. Image courtesy of the artists.

Are there any upcoming exhibitions/projects you wish to share?

At the moment, I am writing a book of fiction based on  a poem about fugitive moments and fugitive time. The poem first took form in a review of Singapore-based artist Boedi Widjaja’s exhibition ‘Declaration of’ (2019) in New York. I am also working on a spatial justice film project and a project on climate action and preservation of biodiversity.

Next year, I will be showing at S.E.A. Focus 2025.

And finally, what would be a key piece of advice to young art practitioners? What has been a way of working, a certain kind of attitude etc. they can learn from to apply to their own careers?

The world of art is unfortunately a cliquey, knotty spread. You need to be in or within the periphery of one of these knots to get anywhere in it. The best anyone can do is to be grateful for the opportunity to create, and allow it to heal you and make you human. Perhaps in the process, you see something that no one else has noticed and make art to bring their attention to it in the hope it will make our lives a fraction easier, a tad better.

Rajinder Singh’s ‘Saffron Surrender’ is on view at Wei-Ling Gallery, from 17 August to 14 September 2024.

This article is presented in partnership with Wei-Ling Gallery.

Access the full Midpoint series here.