Festival of Women: N.O.W Returns to Shine a Light on Under-Discussed Topics Surrounding Womanhood2 min read

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Presented by local arts company T:>Works and helmed by Artistic Director Noorlinah Mohamed, the all-digital Festival of Women: N.O.W 2021 presents an exciting line up of digital exhibitions, livestream performances, online workshops, and live chats that looks to explore and reclaim the taboo, fear, and intimacy as sources of power and inspiration. Each project brings to focus under-discussed topics: from the invisibility of Tamil women, to narratives of joy within historically marginalised communities, to raising uncomfortable questions on intimacy, desire and well-being in ageing bodies.

This third and final iteration of the Festival will run from 13 – 31 July. Featuring a mix of free and ticketed events, find out more about Festival of Women: N.O.W 2021 here.

Three digital exhibitions are now available on the website. Created by Vithya Subramaniam from Brown Voices, “Thamizhachi: A Digital Museum of Tamil Women Under Construction” makes plainly visible the Singaporean Tamil women in the everyday objects of life in Singapore.

Virtual exhibition nudes.jpg, the third iteration from the red thread series by ila and Sonia Kwek, invites participants to reclaim their traumas and triumphs by photographing themselves in the nude and sharing a story associated with their body.

@(un)becomingstories celebrates the mother-daughter bond by sharing real-life stories from women across cultures and communities in Singapore, collected via a digital open call.

Also part of the festivities is the second digital edition of the 24-Hour Playwriting Competition. This year’s panel of judges — Jean Tay, Zizi Majid, Sim Yan Ying “YY” and N.O.W. Artistic Director Noorlinah Mohamed — will be on-hand as artist-facilitators. Participants will be able to seek their advice and brainstorm ideas during selected intervals throughout the 24 hours.

Festival of Women: N.O.W 2021 will formally kick off with The ‘F’Word, a three-part conversation on fear with three different hosts and their special guests. Artistic Director Noorlinah Mohamed will host the first part on Opening Night, exploring the psychology of fear with Know Fear. The conversation will be streamed on T:>Works’ Facebook page on 13 July 2021, 7pm to 8:45pm.

T:>Care also returns this year, in support of four beneficiaries, Krsna’s Free Meals, a soup kitchen serving the historic Little India area, ReadAble, an organisation running weekly literacy programmes in an underserved community, The T Project, Singapore’s first and only social service for the transgender community, and N.O.W. 2021. Donations can be made to Giving.sg with a tax deduction benefit of 250%.