Jeffrey Say
- MA (Art History), The Open University, UK
- BA Honours, University of Queensland, Australia
Jeffrey Say is an art historian specialising in Singapore and Southeast Asian art history who has undertaken pioneering research and study of sculpture in pre- and post-war Singapore.
In 2009, he designed the world’s first MA focusing on Asian modern and contemporary art histories at LASALLE College of the Arts, for which he is the Programme Leader.
A public advocate of the importance of art history to Singapore, Jeffrey is a frequent public speaker at museums, universities, and galleries and conducts short courses that remain hugely popular among various publics.
Jeffrey is the co-editor of Histories, Practices, Interventions: A Reader in Singapore Contemporary Art (Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, 2016. Reprinted World Scientific 2023) and Intersections, Institutions, Innovations: A Reader in Singapore Modern Art (World Scientific, 2023), which remain critical anthologies for researchers, curators and students on Singapore art to date. He is also the co-author of the Exploring Southeast Asia With… series of books (Penguin Random House, 2022).
Publications (select)
- Institutions, Intersections, Innovations: A Reader in Singapore Modern Art (co-edited with Seng Yu Jin), to be published by World Scientific in early 2022
- Some Critical Reflections on Designing and Teaching an Asian Modern and Contemporary Art Histories Programme, Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia, Volume 4, Number 1 (Mar 2020)
- Groundbreaking: The Origins of Contemporary Art in Singapore, BiblioAsia, Vol 15 Issue 2 (2019)
- Histories, Practices, Interventions: A Reader in Singapore Contemporary Art (co-edited with Seng Yu Jin), Institute of Contemporary Art; Singapore (2016)
- Battleship Grey, Old Gold and Billiard Chalks: The Genius of the Changi Murals, in catalogue of The Big Picture Show exhibition, Singapore Art Museum; Singapore (Sep 2007)
- Fascination with the East: Singapore (1939–1940), in catalogue of Karl Duldig, Sculptures/Drawings, Jewish Museum; Vienna (2003)
Research and Practice
- Panel speaker at Sotheby’s Institute of Art’s ‘Asian Art in the 21st Century – Narratives of History and Curating’ organised as part of Singapore Art Week (23 Jan 2021)
- Recipient of the Goldsmiths-LASALLE Partnership Innovation Fund to facilitate and conduct workshops using phenomenology as a pedagogical tool. Workshops were conducted at LASALLE in Sep 2018 and at Goldsmiths, University of London in (Feb 2019)
- Presented a paper titled ‘The Role of Practice among Artist-Teachers and its Impact on the Learning of Students’ at The Asian Conference on Education in Tokyo, Japan (Oct 13–15, 2018)
- Convened and organised the Art and Action Contemporary Art and Discourse Conference, at LASALLE College of the Arts (3–5 Dec 2018)
Research Interests
- Modern and contemporary art histories in Singapore
- Sculpture in Singapore
- Prisoners-of-war art in Singapore
- Exhibition histories in Singapore
- Role of artist-teachers in art education