‘Global Landscapes Singapore’ and ‘The Inner Landscapes of Ella’ was exhibited at Art Now Gallery, in Raffles Hotel, Singapore in early November 2022.
Global Landscape Singapore celebrates the richness of life in and around the island through six individual paintings and a series of charcoals and the collaboration between Spira and Toh that was featured in a music video of the song that Ella wrote, ‘What is it Like to be You?’
This collaboration brings together two female artists; Ella Spira known for her multidisciplinary approach, celebrating underrepresented cultures, and Rebecca Toh, a Singaporean photographer working around the world, injecting emotion and storytelling into the images she creates.
Collaboration is a central tenet of Spira’s artistic work; her encounter with Toh led to an artistic meeting of minds: ‘In the Inner Landscapes of Ella’, Toh was given an all access to Ella, to create an intimate portrait of her and bring home what it is to be an artist. The outcome of this collaboration is a series of intimate, closely shot photographs, in which Toh has captured the soul of her fellow artist. They are not posed, but rather taken free flow, in the moment, which is Toh’s hallmark photography. Rebecca Toh’s portraits of Spira lift the veil of her innermost self to reveal the unadorned woman and her emotions, creating moments of true connection.
The event included an ‘In Conversation with’ and for this talk, the artists were interviewed by Alice Black, former director for 13 years of The Design Museum in London and Director of ArtULTRA to shed light on their process, influences, inspiration and intention, giving context to the artworks created in Singapore.
In January 2021, Alice set up ArtULTRA, a platform dedicated to supporting early career artists, to enable them to thrive and create a more diverse and vibrant art world.ArtULTRA gives access to projects, opportunities for grants, exhibitions, residencies, studios spaces, as well as business guidance. It publishes monthly artist features, produces artistic projects and has recently launched artwork sales. Alice also advises cultural businesses on new business development.
From 2007 until 2020, Alice Black was Deputy Director then Co-Director of the Design Museum in London. Alice’s original brief to develop audiences, increase self-generated income and oversee the operations of the museum, grew to include fundraising, exhibitions and learning programmes. From 2008 to 2016, Alice led the £82m project to transform the former Commonwealth Institute, a post-war, listed building in Kensington into the Design Museum’s new home and create the UK’s leading museum of contemporary design and architecture, trebling its size and audiences. In May 2018 the Design Museum won a prestigious accolade and was named European Museum of the Year recognising ‘its social impact, international and multi-layered intercultural approach’.
Alice Black graduated from ESSEC Business School in France and began her career in banking in New York and started her cultural career in strategic and operational roles at the Imperial War Museum.
Alice is a Governor of theMuseum of London, a member ofthe British Library Advisory Committee and Cultural Ambassador in the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board.
Rebecca Toh is a photographer working around the world. Influenced by music, literature and the ability of a film to tell moving, layered stories, she works to inject emotion, story-telling and a sense of the cinematic into the images she creates for a diverse range of commercial, advertising and editorial clients spanning multiple industries and cities. In her personal work, she enjoys exploring beneath the surface of ordinary life in order to reveal its deeper psychological meanings. Sometimes, her work also travels somewhere between dream and reality. rebeccatoh.com
