Second Nature
Marvin Tang, Rusydan Norr, Woong Soak Teng and Quek See Yee
Group Exhibition
30 May - 8 Jun 2025, 11am - 7pm
Growing up in a city where the narrative of nature pervades the collective consciousness, Singapore artists share a tendency to make sense of the world in ‘green-tinted glasses’. It is no surprise to find recurring nature-related references in their practices – from potted plants to allotment gardens, and simulated construction hoardings to majestic supertrees. The sheer accessibility and omnipresence of state-regulated nature in turn shapes the sentiments and philosophy of its inhabitants.
Second Nature considers this evolving symbiotic relationship between nature and man in the garden city and how it has come to define a way of seeing and making.
About the Artist(s)
Marvin Tang
Marvin Tang (b.1989, Singapore) works with images, videos, and installations to manifest his
research. Surveying the peripherals of historicity and evolving social policies, his practice examines
systems of power and resistance. He is particularly interested in applying this research to
Singapore; attempting to investigate her own historical account and relationship to the expanded
narratives across the globe.
Marvin currently teaches at the School of Arts, Design, and Media and Lasalle College of the Arts.
He is also the lead producer at Superhero Me, an inclusive arts collective striving to create
opportunities for creative advocacy in the field of neurodiversity.
Rusydan Norr
Rusydan Norr (b.1998) is a Singapore-based visual artist. His visual practice employs a play on perceptibility as a way to illuminate the mundane. Bridging horticulture and experimental photography, he delves into the temporal and speculative representations of ecosystems in urban commons. Presently, he is interested in the way subjective meaning and value shifts within biological artworks and landscapes.
Woong Soak Teng
Woong Soak Teng (b. 1994, Singapore) practices in the intersections of art making, producing, and project managing. Her personal projects examine human tendencies to control natural phenomena and nature at large. Current research interests include the human experience of living with spinal deformity and the role of image-making and representations of human bodies in the medical field. She forms one-third of the art collective, DASSAD.
Soak graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography and Digital Imaging at the Nanyang Technological University, School of Art, Design and Media. She has participated in festivals and exhibitions internationally in China, Denmark, Greece, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway. Her accolades include the Steidl Book Award Asia, Objectifs Documentary Award 2021, Kwek Leng Joo Prize of Excellence in Photography 2018 and Singapore Young Photographer Award 2018.
Quek See Yee