Singapore is celebrating its 60th anniversary of independence from British rule on 9 August with a series of cultural offerings under the banner SG60. National Gallery Singapore launched a signature exhibition, *Singapore Stories: Pathways and Detours in Art*, featuring over 400 works from the 19th century to the present, housed in the former supreme court and city hall buildings. The show, curated by Adele Tan, reduces colonial imagery and opens with John Turnbull Thomson's *The Esplanade from Scandal Point* (1951) to present a more complex, multicultural picture of Singapore's history.
This exhibition matters because it reflects ongoing debates about decoloniality in Singaporean art. Curators and critics like Kwok Kian Chow and Syed Muhammad Hafiz argue that Singapore's art history remains disconnected from Global South decolonial trends and still largely follows Western-led discourse. The show's attempt to include diverse voices and lesser-known artists signals a shift, but raises questions about whether Singapore's cultural institutions can fully reckon with colonial ruptures and develop independent artistic narratives.