Amanda Heng is a Singapore contemporary artist, curator and speaker. Heng was born in a Chinese immigrant family in Singapore in 1951. In her artworks, Heng explores gender and social issues in the multicultural, fast-changing Singapore society. Heng is the founding member of Singapore’s first artist-run space, Artists’ Village, and the founder of Singapore’s first female artists collective, Women in the Arts Collective. She is the first Singapore artist to host a solo exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum in 2011, titled “Amanda Heng: Speak To Me, Walk With Me”.
Heng incorporates personal stories in her work. In her Another Woman (1996), she seeks reconciliation with her mother after decades of estrangement. In Missing (1994), Heng criticizes infanticide in cultures that pride male offspring over female. She comments on the status of housewives in the She and Her Dishcover (1991). Her interactive performance art, Let’s Chat (1996 – present), engages participants in the art creation and urges people to think about what they have lost in the fast-paced society. In her most famous performance art, Let’s Walk (1999 – present), she and other members of the public hold high-heeled shoes in their mouths, walking barefoot and backwards by using handheld mirrors to guide themselves. By doing so, Heng comments on the ideal of beauty and lack of progress for women in Asian society. Overall, Amanda is one of Singapore’s most established contemporary artists. She is a pioneer in feminism movement in the Asian society.