Shaping Geographies: Art | Woman | Southeast Asia

Research Background
The exhibition Shaping Geographies: Art | Woman | Southeast Asia sought to highlight the important contributions of women artists from Southeast Asia to contemporary art. Shaping Geographies extended the research of prior exhibitions including Womanifesto (Thailand, 1995-2008), Women Imaging Women (the Philippines, 1998-99), and Text and Subtext (Singapore, 2000) - exhibitions that had sought to acknowledge artists historically neglected by the Western art canon. Shaping Geographies worked to emphasise the sense of urgency felt by many Southeast Asian women artists to respond to their socio-political surroundings. It provided a vehicle for the artists to consider notions of the body, the environment, domesticity, and community.

Research Contribution
Inspired by the recent work of feminist geographers who argued for 'intimate' geographies, the curatorial premise of Shaping Geographies investigated ideas of geography as a field and a practice. The exhibition highlighted the diversity of the region by framing space as constantly shifting and in flux. Eleven contemporary artists from Southeast Asia explored the complex geometries of places, people, spaces, histories and memories – from a gendered perspective. Examining the terms ‘art’, ‘woman’ and ‘Southeast Asia’, and how they may be reconfigured to acknowledge the multifaceted nature of contemporary women’s art practices today, Shaping Geographies uncovered new and ongoing ways to value and extend these terms.

Research Significance
Michelle Antoinette and co-curator Dr Wulan Dirgantoro, University of Melbourne, were commissioned by the Gajah Gallery to be guest curators of this exhibition. Presented in Singapore and timed to coincide with the 2019 Singapore Biennale, the exhibition was accompanied by a 120-page catalogue. The work was reviewed internationally by publications including Art + Australia, ArtAsiaPacific and the Strait Times (Singapore). The National Taipei University invited the curators to present a lecture on the show.