... A Year In Java, Jimmy Ong.

Jimmy Ong (@ayearinjava ) 'Raffles Chunam (Tamil)' 2020 Chunam (river sand, water, lime, egg whites, tayir, ghee and bellapum) plaster on paper mache, wire mesh, rattan stand, plaster and lime on paper marche with wireframe 110 x 50 cm Artist's Collection "Even as Singapore neither officially glorifies nor denounces its modern founder, Sir Stamford Raffles, his name has endured as a brand synonymous with excellence across sectors. These include education (e.g., Raffles Girls’ School), aviation (Raffles Class of Singapore Airlines), and hospitality (Raffles Hotel). Meanwhile, unlike nations that topple statues of colonial figures, Singapore has filed Raffles neatly into history: acknowledged, but rarely scrutinised. This pragmatism sustains a telling silence, sidestepping critical engagement with the violences of colonisation. Jimmy Ong rejects such silence. He does so by bringing Raffles down from his plinth. In 'Raffles Refuse / CatchAll Containers' (2019) and 'Raffles Refuse / Plastic Bag' (2019), Raffles’ headless, feet-less figure is remade as bins and bag holders: objects for storage, not reverence. In 'Raffles Chunam (Tamil)' (2020), shown here, his effigy becomes a skin of papier-mâché, flattened and coated in Indian chunam plaster once prized for its marble sheen. This traditional material is here replaced by a contemporary consumer-brand version, Raffles. Fitted onto a found rattan stand, the work functions as a plaster sampler, turning the monumental into the domestic, permanence into the provisional. If empire’s icon can be remade into containers and samplers, Ong suggests, its symbolic authority can hardly be absolute." —Michael Lee, "Tender Returns", 2025 Part of the exhibition, 'Towards Happiness, Prosperity and Progress: Reflections on the Singapore Spirit', held at The Private Museum (@theprivatemuseum ) till 7 Dec 2025. 📸 courtesy of 1-4. @theprivatemuseum 5. @leehonghwee

7 November 2025 Everything & Nothing Has Changed 26 Paterson Road @justinlow77 @1angkukueh @artagain.co

𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗚: 𝗔𝗔𝗣 𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗢𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗦 Jimmy Ong works on objects and installations as well as relational work about minority communities. His early work involves highly personal inquiries into bodily representation and queer(ed) identities, and his more recent works examine the figure of Raffles across Singaporean and Javanese histories. Kelvin Soh is a visual communications graduate from Birmingham University who has recently taken an interest in social relational work with children from marginalised sectors. He comes from a Hainanese family of bakers. Featured works, by Jimmy Ong 1. Seamstresses' Raffles (2016) 2. Open Love Letters (2018) Read more at: /AAP-2022-Jimmy-Ong #OHAAP2022

In “Lunch Break - “S.A.M.” by Ann Ang” Lim Xin Hwee examines the lingering effects of colonialism in “S.A.M.” by Singaporean poet Ann Ang. “Lunch Break - “S.A.M.” by Ann Ang” is accompanied by Jimmy Ong’s “Seamstresses’ Raffleses” (2018) Cotton cloth and dacron Click the link in our bio to read more! 🔗

Still deliberating your stance on the motion ‘Life Imitates Art’? Seek your answer in these newly commissioned works by Jimmy Ong, Anthony Chin, Fyerool Darma, Dennis Tan, Nila Choo, and more! At our unique debate experience, opposing sides of the argument are presented in the form of artworks from private collections and new commissions. Cast your vote now before Singapore Art Week ends! NOW ON! For the House; Against the House: Life Imitates Art 14 – 23 January 2022 Gillman Barracks 9 Lock Road #03-22 Tue - Sun : 11 AM - 7 PM Fri : 11AM - 9 PM Featuring: Jimmy Ong @jimmyongjogja Agan Harahap @aganharahap Anthony Chin @anthonychin.art Fyerool Darma @gelungulung Kentaro Hiroki @kentarohiroki Dennis Tan @dennis_harou Nila Choo @wholesomenila Dusadee Huntrakul @dusadeehuntrakul Photography: @alvieisalive #ohopenhouse #sgartweek #ArtTakesOver #SAW2022 #artsg #singaporeart

Which came first? Life or art? The story of the Merlion, or the Merlion itself? Pick your side of the debate at ‘For the House; Against the House: Life Imitates Art’, our Singapore Art Week 2022 exhibition held from 14 to 23 January at Gillman Barracks. — For the House; Against the House: Life Imitates Art, curated by John Tung, looks at the evolution of Singapore's arts and cultural landscape. Through a unique debate format, artworks from two private collections and new commissions illustrate how art can chart Singapore’s path towards a "cultural renaissance". Tickets to guided tours available now: bit.ly/fthath2022-info #ohopenhouse #sgartweek #ArtTakesOver #SAW2022 #artsg #singaporeart

Final day to see @seafocus 2021 "hyper-horizon"! Tickets available at the door, or view the 3D Virtual Tour at our link in bio. — “This series of Raffles Trophies are Ong’s reflections on Sir Stamford Raffles’ extraction of colonial loot, seen through the lens of the Empire as trophies of conquest, informed during the time of Singapore’s Bicentennial. The subject matter and composition are not just memento mori in the Western cannon, which only reminds the viewer of mortality, but a memorial of British invasion of Java and forewarnings of what has become embedded desire for cultural objects of Empire in a reversal of fortune. Empire R Us. [...] In the same presentation, an aluminium lantern, composed of Javanese pots and kettle, is laid on its side, echoing the domesticity of still lifes in the drawings. Light spills from punctured holes forming patterns, Javanese script of the phrase “Amok” which means to behave wildly out of control ambulates. Stolen from the Javanese to include in the English dictionary, It was first featured in Raffles’ tome of book on Java to determine the natives as having been barbaric in their temperament and thus, deserving Colonial administration. Here, it becomes a monument of eternal light to the mistaken power of Amok: possibly the same energy that describe loyal soldiers when facing inevitable defeat, a defused mine of violent frenzy that so startled the enemy; to deliver victory, or at least ensure what the soldiers considered an honourable death." — I. Jimmy Ong, AMOK, 2019 II. Jimmy Ong, Buat Naga, Raffles Trophies, 2018 III. Jimmy Ong, Ayam Sirsak, Raffles Trophies, 2018 #FOSTGallery #SEAFocus2021 #SEAFocus #singapore #johnclang #jimmyong #wynlyntan #SingaporeArtWeek #sgartweek #saw2021 #contemporaryart #contemporaryartsg

#freejazzIII #sounwalks @ntu_ccasingapore with @tin_tralala @arahmaiani @ayearinjava #banihaykal #leewengchoy #christadonner #andrewsyang @dianalelonek @denim.szram @cheryleatschips @ana_prvacki @jbtkoh @galina.mihaleva @reetusattar @angie_seah and @wangvivian / @gumbylovesu @katrinnada_ @jasontakwah

Performing a “tambal”. The motley patchwork batik motif that also says to heal, to remedy, to make peace. #povertyquilt @acm_sg come watch at 6pm @acm_sg this weekend 28,29 September. Translation of Javanese Babad sung in the background: On Thursday it happened big event for the country. That moment in history marked, on the 7th day of the Jumadilakir month the Alip year. One thousand seven hundred and thirty-nine Javanese year (1812 AD). Marked by kronogram of hermit on earth, who participated in warfare. British troops from west of Suronatan penetrates Srimanganti. The troops looks massive. Giving up, the Sultan’s soldiers put down their weapons. Many Kraton soldiers were injured. A lot more British enter the Kraton Nobody dares fight back... (Babad Ngengreng, Babad Ingglish)

At a recent talk at ACM about a 2015 exhibition on Raffles in Java, I took the occasion to have Erson sang the babad on the fall of Yogyakarta under the British; and Basuki performed a skit between Olivia Raffles and Cornelia van Nijenrode. I felt a sense of relief after the talk, as if I have fulfilled an obligatory gesture in return for the hospitality to a host that has provided home and studio in the last 7 years. It was a strange evening, i have slept walked into a hall with familiar faces that greeted me. We have not quite rehearsed and Basuki has misplaced his scripts, but we have wafted in and out guided by more than just 3 of us in sarongs and barefeet.

While fabricating this torso …. flash back to 1984 where I did a series of works with Ng Eng Teng at the St Patrick’s Art Centre….I recall making in cement fondue….one of them is called “Monument to The Bumboat”, collected by SAM. Three decades later, I would be unmaking another monument I have always been familiar with…. on long midnight walks along the Singapore River to Queen Elizabeth’s Walk….some very long walk, this one. #openloveletters

One of the proverb in the chapter Ethics of Javan from the History of Java contains the words “A bad man is like fire….A good man a fragrant tree…”, in this performative installation, a Javanese person makes kueh kapit on a repurposed monument that holds both fire and wood (charcoal). The fragrant love letters cooked over it is then stamped with the original script from the proverb in Javaese and shared amongst the audience. #openloveletters