Amanda Heng

Amanda Heng Liang Ngim (born 1951) is a contemporary artist, curator and speaker from Singapore, who works in Singapore and internationally.

As an artist she has a multidisciplinary practice, working collaboratively in contemporary art exhibitions, performance, forums, workshops and art interventions.

Her practice explores themes of national identity, collective memory and social relationships, gender politics and other social issues in urban, contemporary Singaporean society.

Heng was born in Singapore in 1951.

She graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts with a Diploma in printmaking.

In Singapore she helped to establish The Artists Village, the first artist-run space in Singapore.

In 1988, she then went on to pursue her further studies in art at London, at the Central St Martins School of Art and Design, which is now under the University of the Arts London which she attained her Bachelor of Arts.

Amanda has lectured in Nanyang Technology University and the National Institute of Education.

She also supervises MA students in LaSalle College of the Arts.

This was despite performance art gaining notoriety in 1994, following a performance by Josef Ng, in which he snipped his pubic hair at the 5th Passage art space at Parkway Parade Shopping Centre.

Following the outcry, the National Arts Council of Singapore suspended all funding for performance art.

When Amanda moved into the NAC's newly converted studios in 1997, she was asked to sign an agreement that she would not use the studio for performance.

Despite the circumstances, Amanda formed the collective, Women in the Arts (WITA) in 1999, whose main aim was to advance the feminist art movement, using her studio as a venue for performances and other media.

WITA was the first artists-run women's collective in Singapore, and organised forums such as Women And Their Arts, The 1st Asian Film Appreciation workshop, Women About Women, Memories of Sense, TheFridayEvent, Exchange 05 and Open Ends.

WITA currently holds an archive of women in the Arts in Singapore.

Heng's work sought to instigate conversations regarding the artistic practices of women, at a time where a feminist field or framework did not exist in Singapore.

Her other art activities include co-directing theatre production "Bernard's Story", and performed in the theatre production "A Woman On the Tree in the Hill" directed by Ivan Heng of The Wild Rice Theatre Company.

She sat on the selection and curatorial committee for the President's Young Talents Exhibition 2009 in Singapore.

In 2010, she was presented with the Cultural Medallion and had her first solo retrospective show at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) in 2011, titled "Amanda Heng: Speak To Me, Walk With Me".

In 2014 Heng appeared in the TV series A Journey Through Asian Art.

Heng introduced feminist discourse to the local art scene with provocative performance works that discussed gender inequality and social identity.

She is the recipient of the 2019 Singapore Biennale's Benesse Prize.