Published in conjunction with “A Pause”—Amanda Heng’s exhibition for the Singapore Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale—Amanda Heng: On and On brings together four decades of Heng’s artistic practice and sustained experimentation. From the artist’s early drawings of the female body to the photographic studies and artworks with herself and her mother, the performances she staged in the public spaces of Singapore and elsewhere, to works that turn from the public toward the interior self and its needs, this book is a comprehensive look into Heng’s world.

In 1986, after working as a tax officer for several years, Heng left her job to become an artist. In her early thirties, she enrolled in art school, already with questions in mind about gender, culture, language, and the social conditions of Singaporean society. Through drawing, photography, video, and performance, Heng used her body as both subject and medium, and attended to gestures and habits such as chatting, walking, cleaning, and sitting—small actions that are foundational to her artmaking and politics.

Edited by curator Selene Yap, the book brings together essays by curator Anca Rujoiu, critic Lee Weng Choy, architectural theorist Lilian Chee, and anthropologist Souchou Yao, as well as Heng’s own distinct voice, which accompanies a series of visual essays of her work—much of it seen here for the first time.