FX Harsono, Boedi Widjaja, and Others Navigate Southeast Asian Chinese Identity
The article 'Endless Return under the Monsoon' by Tan Sin Thiau examines how Southeast Asian Chinese artists address identity, history, and trauma through their work. It discusses FX Harsono's 'Writing in the Rain' (2011) and 'Bone Cemetery Monument' (2009–2011), which explore erasure and violence against Chinese Indonesians. Boedi Widjaja's 'Path 10: A Tree Talks, A Tree Walks' (2019) and performance lecture 'I Want to Infect You with History' (2025) use DNA and epigenetics to connect historical trauma to biological inheritance. Chong Kim Chiew's 'Isolation House' (2005/2017) references the Malayan Emergency's New Villages. Gan Chin Lee's 'Kedai Kopi Sungai Jarom' (2011) and 'Invasion and Resistance' (2025) depict Malaysia's policed multiculturalism. Tan Zi Hao's 'The Impossible Self-Portrait' (2024) examines name hybridity under linguistic and institutional pressures. The article argues that Chinese identity in the region is not singular but a complex map of historical tensions, institutional powers, and individual strategies.
Key facts
- FX Harsono's 'Writing in the Rain' (2011) shows the artist writing his Chinese name as water washes it away.
- Harsono's 'Bone Cemetery Monument' (2009–2011) uses photographs of mass graves taken by his father in East Java, Indonesia, between 1948 and 1949.
- Boedi Widjaja's 'Path 10: A Tree Talks, A Tree Walks' (2019) encodes his grandfather's diary into a DNA sequence mixed with tree DNA and his saliva.
- Widjaja's performance lecture 'I Want to Infect You with History' (2025) at Fotografiska Shanghai connected trauma to the FKBP5 gene.
- Chong Kim Chiew's 'Isolation House' (2005/2017) references the New Villages of the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960).
- Gan Chin Lee's 'Kedai Kopi Sungai Jarom' (2011) is a triptych showing ethnic groups in separate frames at a restaurant in Jenjarom, Selangor.
- Gan's 'Invasion and Resistance' (2025) at Ilham Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, includes woodcarving panels and references to Velázquez, Courbet, and Liu Xiaodong.
- Tan Zi Hao's 'The Impossible Self-Portrait' (2024) presents his name in multiple scripts: '陈子豪', 'Tan Chee Hoe', 'Tan Zi Hao'.
- The article references Shu-mei Shih's 'Against Diaspora' (2017) and historian Wang Gungwu.
- The text was published on LEAP (leapleapleap.com) in June 2026.
Entities
Artists
- FX Harsono
- Boedi Widjaja
- Chong Kim Chiew
- Gan Chin Lee
- Tan Zi Hao
- Tan Sin Thiau
- Yueh-Siang Chang
- Eric Yap
- Shu-mei Shih
- Wang Gungwu
- Lee Kuan Yew
- Velázquez
- Courbet
- Liu Xiaodong
- Oh Hok Djoe
Institutions
- Temenggong Artists-in-Residence
- National Museum of Singapore
- Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine
- MACA Art Center
- Fotografiska Shanghai
- Ilham Gallery
- A+ Works of Art
- Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing
- Balai Seni Negara
- Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan
- LEAP
Locations
- Singapore
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- China
- Zhangzhou
- Fujian
- Blitar
- East Java
- Yogyakarta
- Solo
- Jenjarom
- Selangor
- Kuala Lumpur
- Shanghai
- Hangzhou
- Zayton
- Amoy
- Longhai
- Pacific Ocean
- Klang River
- Nusantara
- Nanyang
- Southeast Asia