“Photography is now so vital to memory, as a safeguard that the past will not be erased.. And ironically, we often rely, as with the Khmer Rouge, on the photographs taken by the murderers. – Allan de Souza

STPI Gallery presents the first major solo exhibition in Singapore by Dinh Q. Lê, one of Asia’s most established artists to date. For the very first time, the multiple award-winning artist has developed breakthrough print works of unprecedented scale and technical distinction from Splendor and Darkness —his sold-out photo-weaving series.

“Monuments and Memorials” marks the premiere of this pivotal series in Asia, also unveiling his first-ever three-dimensional weavings which feature the recent refugee exodus from Africa and the Middle East into Southern Europe.

In Splendor and Darkness, Lê shredded photographs of Cambodian temples and iconic portraits of Khmer Rouge victims killed at Tuol Sleng, weaving the strips into photomontages using the age-old craft of traditional Vietnamese grass mat weaving. The resulting transfigured image is a rich, multi-faceted viewpoint of history and a reflection of our fragmented personal and collective memory. Lê’s long-standing desire for mural-sized, monumental foiling works interwoven with matt paper were realised for the very first time through STPI’s technical capabilities, which refined the works with greater texture and warmth.

“All these possibilities that I always wanted for this series was never possible until I learnt what STPI could do… these new processes helped me to perfect the work.”

Haunting, iconic, and universal, “Monuments and Memorials” blazes new trails for Lê’s celebrated practice. Find out more about the artist here. Check out his available works here. To view the exhibition catalogue, please click here.