Tan Zi Hao

Tan Zi Hao is an artist, writer, researcher, and educator. His practice employs a revisionist strategy to contest essentialising and totalising tendencies prevalent in postcolonial nation-states. His works have covered a wide range of subjects from translingual practices, multiscript typography, imaginary creatures, to carrier shells and household casebearers. Dwelling on issues of ontological insecurity, his works present a deep investigation about what it means to be singular-plural in an age of global and ecological interdependence.

As an artist who moves across different disciplines, he also holds a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, undertaking fieldwork research on animal imagery in the Islamic art of Cirebon, Indonesia. His scholarship has been published in Art in Translation, ARTMargins, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Indonesia and the Malay World, and Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.

His recent exhibitions include Prosthetic Memories, A+ Works of Art, Malaysia, 2023; Dream of the Day, Ilham Gallery, Malaysia, 2023; Synthetic Condition, UP Vargas Museum, Philippines, 2022; Kathmandu Triennale 2077, Nepal, 2022; A Short History of Instant Noodles, A+ Works of Art, Malaysia, 2022; Phantasmapolis: 2021 Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, 2021; Crypto for Cryptids, JWD Art Space, Thailand, 2021.