FEMALE | Things To Do In Singapore: Singapore Art Week 2024 Kicks Off!

Being a woman, especially today, is many things and Singapore interdisciplinary artist Sarah Choo Jing has poetically interpreted it in a new series of videos titled Gestures of Affection. A commission by Roman luxury house Valentino (the brand is returning to Singapore Art Week once more after making a triumphant debut last year with Thai artist Pinaree Sanpitak), Gestures of Affection is a set of seven unique videos and print artworks, each featuring a female protagonist expressing a notion Choo sees as central to the female experience – sensuality, resilience, empathy, individuality, freedom, passion, and vulnerability.

 

You’ll notice that each of the work is bathed in a predominant colour palette of pinks and reds – nods to Valentino’s house codes of course. Each video captures a woman’s small gestures and facial expressions that might go unnoticed in real time and are deliberately showcased in slow motion, forcing the viewer to contend with the woman’s unapologetic presence..  P.S. These women and Choo developed closer relationships through the collaborative making of the work – thus the title Gestures of Affection.

 

Choo is well-known for her striking visual works that combine photography, video and installation to explore notions of solitude in contemporary life, and for this commission, the work was inspired by Valentino’s Spring Summer 2024 L’Ecole womenswear collection, which reaffirms women’s agency over their own bodies, independent of the male gaze or any societal expectations. Gestures of Affection will be unveiled at the lobby of Soho Residency Singapore (located within The Warehouse Hotel) from January 16 and remain on display till SAW concludes on January 28. Following this, the work will be sold, the net proceeds from the sale will go to gender equality non-advocacy group AWARE.