"The Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2024 feels like a mysterious space, hidden behind a large wall that lets no light through. When you find and enter it, you feel as if you’ve been spirited away to some secret sanctuary, insulated from the gaze of the outside world.
Outside the main exhibition and country pavilions, two other Singaporeans are also flying the star-spangled red-and-white flag in concurrent events. One of them is Priyageetha Dia, a fast-rising 32-year-old artist best remembered by Singaporeans as the young woman who sparked a national debate about public art when she covered the staircase of her HDB block with gold foil as a tribute to her goldsmith ancestors.
Since then, Dia has steadily garnered Asia-wide acclaim for her socially- and historically-engaged art, often using her female Indian identity as a springboard. In Venice, she is showing a video work titled The Sea Is A Blue Memory (2022), which reimagines the sea journey of indentured labourers from India to Malaya from over a century ago. The 3D animation work is genuinely beautiful and is displayed in the majestic Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana as part of The Spirits of Maritime Crossing group exhibition organised by the Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation."
After Rain, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2024, Priyageetha Dia, Mesh: Prelude to Spectre System (2024), Vinyl print, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, photo by Marco Cappelletti
