President Tharman opens show to celebrate 50 years of S’pore-Mexico ties

A landmark exhibition exploring the connections between Southeast Asia and Latin America opened in Mexico City on Dec 4, inaugurated during a milestone state visit by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

- Clement Yong Correspondent

(From left) Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) director Clement Onn, National Gallery Singapore (NGS) curators Teo Hui Min and Cheng Jia Yun, and NGS chief executive Eugene Tan. The Somos Pacifico, based on shows by ACM and NGS in 2023, reorientates the lenses through which people view the world order. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

(MARK CHEONG)

Based on two 2023 exhibitions by the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) and National Gallery Singapore (NGS) in Singapore, Somos Pacifico, or We Are The Pacific: A World Born Of The Tropics, reorientates the lenses through which people view the world order and the world map.

Shifting the centre of gravity from Europe, more than 300 objects — about 80 from Singapore's national collection - emphasise the colonial trade route between Acapulco in Mexico and Manila in the Philippines from 1565 to 1815 as foundational to the creation of the modern world.

As Singapore and Mexico celebrate 50 years of relations, curators were also keen to stress the relationship between Asia and the Americas as a contemporary one, continuing through parallels in modern art.

The eclectic show at the Colegio de San Ildefonso - the birthplace of Mexico's world-famous Muralist movement in the capital’s old town — is the farthest that an exhibition from Singapore has travelled.