Residency @ ITI: Ghosts of Remembrance — Open Sessions

As part of Residency @ ITI 2025, Jereh Leung, Nirmala Seshadri, Hemalatha Ramani and Jing Ng bring their diverse artistic practices together to collaborate on Ghosts of Remembrance — a project exploring loss, memory and transformation.

Prompted by the passing of family members and their shared friend and mentor, Aaron Khek, this interdisciplinary collaboration dives into rituals arising from personal and collective grief, researched through traditional Indian dance, feminist critique, and storytelling through sound and movement.

Ghosts of Remembrance — Open Sessions

Workshop
24 May, Sat | 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM (Chat continues till 8:30 PM)
Onsite. Limited spaces — Register here or contact the artists on Instagram for details.

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the body opens the day — Work-in-progress Presentation 
30 May, Fri | 7 PM – 8 PM
Online
Register for Zoom Webinar here

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extended gesture
31 May, Sat | 11 AM – 4 PM
Onsite and online
Register for onsite session here
Register for Zoom Webinar here

Programme
11:00 AM – 11:30 AM —— Cleaning
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM —— Kolam & Flowers
12:30 PM – 1:00 PM —— Rest
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM —— Upanishads and Soundscapes
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM —— Movement in Space
3:00 PM – 3:30 PM —— Cleaning 

About the project:

Ghosts of Remembrance is an interdisciplinary exploration born from our personal encounters with loss and separation. In the past year, we experienced the profound pain of losing close family members, and we continue to feel the absence of Aaron Khek—a vibrant mentor and friend, whose creative spirit and vision brought us both on a shared journey, despite our different identities, artistic practices and cultural backgrounds. The deep loss and grief that we shared, was intensified by Jereh’s relocation to the UK. This propelled us to collaborate and examine loss both at a personal and collective level.

Our work is grounded in practice and research drawn from our unique backgrounds. Nirmala’s investigation into traditional Indian dance and Brahminical rituals through a feminist lens challenges patriarchal structures, while Jereh’s practice—shaped by deconstructing domestic gender roles (as seen in the film In the Mood for Love) —seeks to reveal hidden layers of identity.

Underpinning Ghosts of Remembrance is the leitmotif of Ritual. The research exists at the liminal intersection of various forms of rituals - 1. the traditional, decorative and yet ephemeral art of Kolam that typically exists of the threshold of the interior and exterior 2. death rituals in Hindu and Buddhist traditions, that are believed to facilitate the journey of the departed souls 3. rituals embedded in our respective dance forms 4. everyday rituals that we perform.

Ghosts of Remembrance is a meditation on the past and its lingering presence and continual influence in our lives. The “ghosts” assist us in navigating the complex emotional landscape of grief; they are also carriers of wisdom that urge us to reconnect with lost narratives and transform grief through a process of creating personal signature rituals that are empowering and transformative.

About the artists:

Jereh Leung’s work in performance seeks to reevaluate patriarchal identities. he creates landscapes of viscerality by merging different mediums such as body, sculpture and sound. he studied dance in sead (salzburg) and nafa(singapore). he has worked with numerous singaporean artists and companies such as Bani Haykal, Choy Ka Fai, Daniel Kok, Drama Box, Frontier Danceland and T:>Works; and internationally with artists such as Isabelle Schad (Germany) and Xavier Le Roy (France/Germany).

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Nirmala Seshadri is a dance artist and researcher whose work critically engages with Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form.

She uses the body and performance space to interrogate existing inequalities, problematising boundaries of time, place, gender, and caste, among other social constructs. She draws from Bharatanatyam, Butoh, Breathwork, and Yoga to create an innovative movement approach – Antarika.

Nirmala’s artistic works include Outcaste Eternal (1999), Crossroads (2003), Moments in Time (2002), Then and Now (2003), Radha Now (2006), I watched the flowers (2012), I Carry Your Heart (2015), The Problematic Danseuse (2020) and Dance Affectionate (2021).

Bridging dance practice with theory, her research interests include kinesthesia and corporeality, gender, tradition and transition, site specificity, cultural hybridisation and the politics of identity. A recipient of the Young Artist Award from the National Arts Council (Singapore), she graduated with an MA in Dance Anthropology (distinction) from the University of Roehampton, London.

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Awarded the National Arts Council Scholarship, Jing Ng graduated with first class honours from Rose Bruford College (U.K.) specialising in Performance Sound. Having designed for various companies and productions over 10 years of practice, he aspires to provide a wholesome sonic experience for the audience - what, why and how you listen through a live performance.

As an arts educator at NAFA since 2017, Jing has been teaching the core principles and techniques of production sound design. These modules fosters future practitioners in developing a deeper understanding of sound in various artistic mediums and discovering the infinite possibilities of sonic arts.

He was nominated for Best Sound Design in the 2014 Off West End Theatre Awards; and nominated for the 2018, 2022 - 2025 Singapore Straits Times Life Theatre Awards winning the 2025 edition. Jing is currently developing future iterations of his installation work - Distance Makes The Heart Fonder.

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Hemalatha Ramani (Hema Iyer Ramani) is a writer and essayist focusing on travel, culture, art and leisure. She is the author of Soulscapes: Travels and Conversations in India, a nuanced  exploration of the physical, emotional and spiritual connections  between people and places. Hema is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines- her essays, profiles and poems draw on her passion for the untold  stories in our places, our culture and traditions as well as the links between our wondrous art and their spiritual moorings. She has co-authored a book with Datuk Ramli Ibrahim, KumbhMela, Prayagraj- Joined in Dance. She has contributed to The Many lives of Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna- An authorised biography by Veejay Sai.

She has also been anthologised in Aquality- Tales from the Depths (a collection of short stories). Her short story, Unniappam was included in the Brown Lives issue of The Pinecone Review.

Hema is a former lecturer of Political Science at Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru.