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National Gallery S'pore to hold 1st R18 exhibition featuring Southeast Asian erotic art
Identity cards will be checked at the door for age verification.
April 23, 2026, 01:33 PM
The National Gallery Singapore has a new exhibition on desire, the body, and sexuality in Southeast Asian art.
Open only to visitors aged 18 and above, from Apr. 24 to Aug. 30, "Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art" seeks to offer a new perspective on art in the region.
It is the gallery's first exhibition to be classified as R18.
"Art and desire have always been intertwined, yet conversations about pleasure and the body remain shielded in the region’s public sphere," said Patrick Flores, the chief curator and project director of the exhibition.
"This exhibition invites us to look beyond familiar or simplified ideas of the erotic, exploring how desire is not fixed, but shaped by culture, history, and power," he added.
Photo from National Gallery Singapore
Diverse representations of desire
The exhibition will feature more than 70 works spanning various periods and formats such as painting, sculptural installation, photography, and video.
Starting from a pre-modern section, the works reveal that the erotic has long been embedded in spiritual and cosmological narratives.
There will also be a focus on post-colonial Southeast Asia, where artists challenged and redefined the aesthetics of desire.
Artists from the Singapore LGBTQ+ community are also featured, including openly trans artists Aki Hassan and Marla Bendini, and openly gay artist Tan Peng, according to The Business Times.
This will be the first time Tan's homoerotic paintings will be publicly exhibited.
Some highlights to look out for
Despite what the R18 rating might suggest, the works are more tender and abstract rather than explicit or controversial, according to The Straits Times.
The gallery has to follow legal guidelines that demarcate the pornographic, co-curator Adele Tan said.
"For what we thought might be too sensitive or too difficult as a first entree for this exhibition, we also tried to manage the choice of imagery," she added.
Visitors can look out for the following works and more.
Filipina sculptor Agnes Arellano's "Haliya Bathing" reimagines the Bicolano warrior goddess of the moon through her own body, depicted in a childbirth position. Photo from National Gallery Singapore.
Malaysian artist Ahmad Zakii Anwar's "Sixtynine" series. Photo from National Gallery Singapore.
Vietnamese artist Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai’s "Out" transforms medical instruments used in gynaecological examinations into decorative objects. Photo from National Gallery Singapore.
Singapore-based artist Lavender Chang’s "Dissolving into the Same Breath #1-#3" uses long-exposure photography to capture bodies in motion. Photo from National Gallery Singapore.
Admission
Valid identification will be required at entry for age verification.
Tickets to the exhibition are S$5 for Singapore citizens and permanent residents (PRs), and S$8 for foreigners.
No photography and videography is allowed within the exhibition space.
For more information about the exhibition, visit the website here.
Top images from National Gallery Singapore
