The 2022 exhibition Expressions Through Art presented 120 works by students from all 21 of Singapore’s special education schools at National Gallery Singapore.
The exhibition marked the 20th anniversary of the Singtel Touching Lives Fund and created a shared public platform for artistic work from across the special education system.
Twenty-one schools represented together
The display allowed students, teachers and visitors to encounter work from programmes that were usually presented separately. It emphasised creativity, aspiration and individual accomplishment rather than treating disability as the exhibition’s only subject.
Students from APSN Tanglin School also collaborated with Singtel employees on a work made during the event.
School principal Liza Ow described the exhibition as an opportunity for the wider public to understand what special education students could accomplish and to see their talent, dreams and ambitions.
Art as visibility and connection
The exhibition joined two strands of Singtel’s activity: support for children and young people with special needs and an existing relationship with National Gallery Singapore.
The fund had supported education programmes and charities since 2002. Presenting the students’ work in a national cultural institution added public visibility to that financial support.
The event was opened by President Halimah Yacob and Second Minister for Education Mohamad Maliki bin Osman, who met students and educators during the exhibition tour.
Expressions Through Art demonstrated the importance of where work is shown. By using the National Gallery rather than an internal school venue, the organisers placed the students within Singapore’s public cultural life and asked audiences to approach them first as artists.