In conjunction with our exhibition, Proof of Personhood: Identity and Authenticity in the Face of Artificial Intelligence, subTEXT x SAM welcomes a panel of speculative-fiction authors, who will explore ideas of identity and personhood by sharing their fantasy and sci-fi works, where technological advances and folklores fuel their imagination.

Featured Writers:

Victor Fernando R. Ocampo
Victor is the author of the International Rubery Book Award-shortlisted The Infinite Library and Other Stories (Math Paper Press, 2017) and Here be Dragons (Canvas Press, 2015), which won the Romeo Forbes Children’s Story Award in 2012. His play-by-email interactive fiction piece ‘The Book of Red Shadows’ debuted at the Singapore Writers Festival in 2020. He is a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association, a fellow at the Milford Science Fiction Writers’ Conference (UK), and a Jalan Besar writer-in-residence at Sing Lit Station (2020/2021).

Charlene Shepherdson
Charlene is an interdisciplinary writer based in Singapore who creates experiences using visual text, interactive narratives and historical archives. The breadth of their practice spans poetry, creative non-fiction, visual art installations and social sculptures. They have a deep focus on communities and the ideas that exist in the in-betweens: the intersection where personal histories clash with state narratives, the people and cultural practices that fall through the cracks, and the disconnect between humans and nature. In this nebulous space, they facilitate communities and hold space for them to share their stories – to reclaim, reframe and reimagine their realities. (Photo credit: Brian Ho)

Jocelyn Suarez
Jocelyn writes both poetry and prose. She began as a spoken word artist who then found love for the written word. She is part of the poetry collective, ATOM. Her works have been included in several poetry anthologies and online journals. She has written short stories, book reviews and short plays. Her first novel, The Flesh Hunter, was longlisted for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2020. Her second novel was lost to COVID-19 and the third got lost in the mail.

Suffian Hakim
Suffian is an author, screenwriter, playwright and culture & lifestyle journalist described by The Straits Times as “one of the most whimsical, creative and unpretentious young voices in Singapore literature”. His novels include The Minorities (Epigram Books, 2018) and The Keepers of Stories (Epigram Books, 2021).

Moderator:

Yong Shu Hoong
Yong Shu Hoong has authored seven poetry collections, including Frottage (2005) and The Viewing Party (2013), which both won the Singapore Literature Prize, and Anatomy of a Wave (2022). He is a co-author of collaborative works, The Adopted: Stories from Angkor (2015), Lost Bodies: Poems Between Portugal and Home (2016) and Lilla Torg: A Scandinavian Journey (2023).

About Proof of Personhood:
The exhibition brings together local and international artists exploring the unstable relationship between identity, agency and authenticity in our age of hypermediation. Taking advanced technology as both subject and medium, the works in the exhibition use interactive software, AI-synthesised images and genetic engineering to investigate the nature of personhood in the 21st century and to reframe aspects central to contemporary life, including online presence, artificial intelligence and biometric data capture.

About subTEXT:
Organised by Yong Shu Hoong, subTEXT is a long-running literary reading series that took place regularly from 2001 to 2008 at different venues. It is now organised on an ad-hoc basis. This iteration of subTEXT is co-organised by SAM and Yong Shu Hoong.