Dawn Ng Blooms at Singapore Repertory Theatre With ‘The Earth Laughs in Flowers’ Exhibition
The artist returns home with 12 “time capsule” paintings, created through a high-stakes process of freezing and shattering.
Summary
- Dawn Ng’s solo exhibition, The Earth Laughs in Flowers, features 12 large-scale paintings at the Singapore Repertory Theatre
- Works act as “time capsules” created using frozen pigments, sand and ice
- The immersive show runs until February 1, 2026
Singaporean artist Dawn Ng returns to her home country for a significant solo exhibition titled The Earth Laughs in Flowers, hosted at the Singapore Repertory Theatre. Representing a major homecoming after international presentations in cities like New York, London and Seoul, this showcase marks the first time an art exhibition has been held within the theatre’s dramatic black-box space.
Presented by Sullivan+Strumpf, the exhibition is an evolution of Ng’s ongoing body of work, Into Air, which explores the intersection of time, color, and emotion through the ephemeral medium of ice. The centerpiece of the show is a suite of 12 new large-scale paintings, each serving as a meticulously crafted “time capsule” representing a specific month of the year 2025. To create these works, Ng utilizes a rigorous methodology inspired by geological forces such as time, heat, wind, water, and gravity. She freezes pigments, dyes, inks, and sand sourced from various global regions into monolithic ice blocks over the course of a month. These blocks are then shattered and strategically sown onto wooden canvases, where the melting process dictates the final, kaleidoscopic modulation of color.
The show’s title, borrowed from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem, situates Ng’s work within a broader dialogue on temporality and nature. By positioning her canvases as “micro planets,” Ng orchestrates a methodology that mirrors planetary mark-making on a smaller scale. The black-box theatre space will be transformed into an immersive environment, amplifying the dramatic presence of the works.
Dawn Ng’s The Earth Laughs in Flowers exhibition is currently on view at the Singapore Repertory Theatre until February 1, 2026.
