I had never heard of Artist Suzann Victor before I traveled to Singapore. Based in Sydney Australia, Victor was born in Singapore and much of her work deals with the effect of colonialism on contemporary Southeast Asia. She began her art career as an abstract painter but now concentrates on installations and uses whatever materials are necessary convey her message. She seems fearless.

I do not profess to be knowledgable about her body of work, but I can say this: from what I have seen, her art draws out emotion from mostly everyone who sees it. The emotions are not all the same; her work can be appreciated on many levels (remember how kids and adults loved Rocky and Bullwinkle?) Her viewers are free to admire her skill in combining found objects with high tech materials, or they can go deeper, allow themselves to be transported into her world and ponder her visual commentary on loss of cultural identity, time, sexuality, human longing. Here is one installation I spent a lot of time studying and enjoying:

Contours of a Rich Manoeuvere

Contours of a Rich Manoevure is located in the Singapore National Museum. Eight red chandeliers hang over a bridge that connects the old museum building to the new wing. The chandeliers are computer programmed to swing in a different pattern periodically. The installation was made specifically for the site. To see the official film on the installation, click here .

To learn about Suzann Victor and see more of her work, press here, here, and here.