“Worlding” Rethought: A Review of ‘Worldly Dis-position’

24 Jan

Curated by Zulkhairi Zulkiflee
By Anneliese Hardman

Exhibition view, 'Worldly Dis-position', 2024. Image courtesy of Heaven Gallery, Chicago.

Theorist, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak first introduced the term, “worlding” in her article, The Rani of Sirmur. It is used to explain the process of a site becoming colonised through colonial cartography, writing, and travel. Singaporean artists, Susie Wong, Green Zeng, and Zulkhairi Zulkiflee apply this theory to British colonial histories in Singapore in the exhibition, ‘Worldly Dis-Position’ at Heaven Gallery in Chicago, IL. Curated by artist-curator, Zulkiflee, the artworks of ‘Worldly Dis-Position’ question how the colonial gaze effects our post-colonial perception of place. This is an important topic to each of the artists—specifically Zulkiflee—whose past artworks and exhibitions have investigated the topic of shaping Malay identity in Singapore. Visitor understanding of “worlding” is expanded through Wong, Zeng, and Zulkiflee’s lens-based visualisations of Singapore, the island nation, and Singapore, the city in Michigan, and their inhabitants. Congruent themes of the gaze and gazed upon, as well as representing exoticised landscapes, and attributes of the exile are each considered artistically.

Entering ‘Worldly Dis-Position,’ visitors are immediately attracted to Zulkhairi Zulkiflee’s ‘The Avoidant (Singapore, Singapore, Singapore),’ which considers the role of gazing within the “worlding process.” This large scale black and white photograph is digitally manipulated to showcase a couple who gazes upon a landscape of altered sand dunes in Singapore, Michigan. The relationship of the gazer and gazed upon is reframed in this work, questioning how meaning is superimposed upon sites by a gazer. In the case of Singapore, MI, viewers cannot help but consider the country of Singapore and the similarities and differences between these two far removed places. For example, both are economically dependent on revenue from tourism, however while Singapore, MI is overtaken by sand, the country of Singapore requires dredging to maintain its land mass. The once colonised country of Singapore is now a coloniser by name, imbuing meaning onto an otherwise unknown ghost town in Michigan.

Zulkhairi Zulkiflee, 'The Avoidant (Singapore, Singapore, Singapore)', 2024, large format print on photo tex fabric paper, 78 x 59inches. Image courtesy of the artist.

Romanticised aspects of gaze are explored in Wong’s digital video, ‘I’ll see you in my dreams.’ This video is projected onto the wall directly across from Zulkiflee’s ‘The Avoidant,’ creating aesthetic symmetry between these enlarged works. For example, both pieces are appropriated; Zulkiflee’s image is taken from an archive in Singapore, MI and Wong’s video clips are from Charles Chauvel’s 1933 documentary films and Francis F. Coppola’s 1979 film, ‘Apocalypse Now.’ Wong attributes human characteristics to her landscape just as Zulkiflee describes the dunes in his work as “avoidant.” Wong’s video excerpts feature sunbathers on the beach, scenic waves rolling onto the shore, and coconut trees gently waving in the breeze. These coconut trees “speak” of entangled aspects of curiosity about the Orient’s tropicality and commerce. It represents the idealised and romanticised ideas that many foreigners assume about Singapore, Singapore. These assumptions, which date to pre-colonial times and continue to the present, obscure reality about life in Singapore, instead replacing reality with visions of palm trees and idyllic beaches. The only thing that would make the presentation of this work stronger is if a bench was included by the work to allow for viewing ease within the second-floor gallery space that is already difficult to access.

Expansion upon Wong’s commentary about romanticised representations of Singapore since it became “worlded” is further seen in Wong’s ‘The Idea of the Coconut.’ This series is made up of three photographs attached to the wall using photo tex fabric paper. Within this set, located to the left of ‘I’ll see you in my dreams,’ the coconut tree fades into the background of amorous relationships. Britian’s interactions with Singapore during colonisation can be compared to a toxic romantic relationship. The relationship overtakes the subject of the work, causing the palm trees and other landscape features to melt away from view. According to a handout created by Zulkiflee for visitors to read upon entering the exhibition, Wong’s work personifies Indigenised perspectives that have become overshadowed by colonial ones. These artworks cause viewers to confront their own assumptions about Singapore and determine if they too naïvely limit Singapore to just tropical illusion. The incorporation of a handout encourages choice learning moments in the gallery, allowing visitors the opportunity to learn more about each artist and work if they so desire.

Susie Wong, 'The Idea of the Coconut' (extracts), 2019, book extract on photo tex fabric paper, 16.5 x 23.4inches (set of 3). Book (edition of 10), published by browsing copy. Image courtesy of Heaven Gallery, Chicago.

Zulkiflee and Wong’s artworks consider the relationship of outside perceptions about landscape to worlding. In contrast, Green Zeng’s works take a more intimate approach to unpacking how native inhabitants who have been exiled from their homeland because of colonial takeover act, feel, and think. On the middle wall, coupled together are two variations of Zeng’s project, ‘Pulau Sebakau,’ which presents a proscriptive response to “worlding” in Singapore. In the second variation, Zeng reframes the photographic materials of Teo Yen Teck. Photographs of imagined exiled persons are paired with mirror paper of the same size. Zeng considers the loss that occurs when one is displaced by referencing the phenomenon of phantom limb syndrome as applicable also to identity erosion caused by “worlding.”

Green Zeng, 'Variation 2 - Pulau Sebakau,' (detail), digital print on paper & mirror sticker on board, 5.9 x 7inches each, 8 of 10 pieces. Edition 1_1 + 1AP. Image courtesy of the artist.

Exhibition artworks critically engage with “worlding” and reconcile adverse impacts. The artworks display agency by proposing remediation to identity loss and disappearance of self. For example, Zeng invokes mirror paper to conjure V.S Ramchandran’s mirror box therapy. Through mirroring, Indigenised identity is restored. Rehabilitation is also experimented with in Zeng’s sixth variation of his work in which the imagined exile, Pulau Sebakau, sends handwritten notes and halved postcards to offer an alternative and more personal mode of reading history. The notes and postcards can be rearranged and repaired to highlight the constructive nature of archival materials.

Green Zeng, 'Variation 6 - Pulau Sebakau,' (detail), digital print on paper, 5 x 7inches each, 5 of 16 pieces. Edition 1_1 + 1AP. Image courtesy of the artist.

Much like the imagined exiles of Zeng’s series, the artworks of ‘Worldly Dis-Position’ are far removed from their home country while featured in this Chicago-based show. They are not exiled but still confront foreign gazes, idealised assumptions, and undo scepticism resultant of “worlding” while on display at Heaven Gallery. The site specificity of the artworks not being shown within their home context but in a foreign one causes visitors to think more critically about how the meaning of people and objects are removed and added when taken from their original context. All artworks displayed in ‘Worldly Dis-position’ cause visitors to consider alternate futures post-colonialisation. Placing artists, Wong, Zeng, and Zulkiflee from different stages of their artistic career in conversation with one another is especially effective at presenting different treatments of “worlding” and imaging a future beyond it.

‘Worldly Dis-Position’, curated by Zulkhairi Zulkiflee, is on view from 13 December 2024 to 26 January 2025, at Heaven Gallery in Chicago, IL.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of A&M.

About the Writer

Anneliese Hardman is a curator, lecturer, and researcher specializing in Southeast Asian art histories. She has a MA in Museum Studies from Florida State University and a MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from The Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia. Currently, she is pursuing her PhD in Art History at the University of Illinois Chicago with a focus on contemporary Cambodian art. Her dissertation project explores art that reflects relational changes of Southeast Asian environments and culture.