Opening on 3 December 2025, the Asian Civilisations Museum and National Gallery Singapore will present original curatorial research and works of art from the National Collection at the landmark exhibition “El Galeón Acapulco – Manila SOMOS PACÍFICO El Mundo que emergió del Trópico” (The Acapulco-Manila Galleon: We are the Pacific, A World Born of the Tropics)
SINGAPORE, 20 November 2025 – From the shores of Singapore to the heart of Mexico City, curatorial research by the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) and National Gallery Singapore (NGS) takes centre stage at El Galeón Acapulco – Manila SOMOS PACÍFICO El Mundo que emergió del Trópico. Marking 50 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Mexico, the exhibition brings together 80 works from Singapore’s National Collection, including paintings, sculpture, silver coins, and porcelain, shown in dialogue with loans from leading institutions and private collections in Mexico and beyond.
Courtesy of National Gallery Singapore.
Drawing from ACM’s Manila Galleon: From Asia to the Americas exhibition in 2023, the exhibition reveals how exchange across the Pacific shaped global identities, as people, goods, and ideas moved between Asia and the Americas from the 16th to 18th centuries. It is enriched by research from NGS’s 2023 exhibition Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America, featuring a selection of Southeast Asian artists who, throughout the 20th century, sought to claim their rightful position within the story of art and beyond.
Clement Onn, Director of ACM, shares, “Somos Pacífico furthers ACM’s exploration of a global Southeast Asia, placing Mexico and Manila at the heart of a centuries-old world trade
network. As the only museum in Asia with a pan-Asian scope, we are committed to showcasing the cross-cultural exchanges that have shaped our shared histories. Port cities like Acapulco and Manila, alongside artistic centres like Mexico City, were instrumental in fostering dynamic exchanges. This fusion of cultures, much like the galleon trade itself, serves as a powerful reminder of the interconnectedness that transcended geographical borders. We are excited to present our curatorial research and Singapore’s National Collection to new audiences in Mexico City, demonstrating how museum scholarship can bridge cultures and further global understanding.”
Eugene Tan, CEO and Director of NGS, says, “National Gallery Singapore has long been at the forefront of Global South dialogues. Our presentation in Somos Pacífico represents years of dedicated research into the artistic parallels between Southeast Asia and Latin America – regions shaped by shared histories of colonialism, independence, and cultural assertion. The artists featured in this exhibition fought for representation on their own terms, a quest that continues to resonate today. By bringing these stories to Mexico City, we reaffirm the Gallery’s commitment to reframing Southeast Asian art history as part of a larger global art story – one of solidarity, creativity, and mutual recognition.”
Somos Pacífico represents an unprecedented international and inter-institutional collaboration, uniting Singapore’s leading cultural institutions with collaborators including the Ayala Museum and the Intramuros Museums of the Philippines; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – through the embassies of Mexico in Singapore and the Philippines; and the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico – through the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL).
It also includes the collaboration of the Banco de México Museum, the Puebla Museums, the Franz Mayer Museum, and Casa Barragán, with research, project development, and general coordination by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), through the Philippines-Mexico Studies Program of the Institute of Historical Research at UNAM, and El Colegio de San Ildefonso.
From Acapulco to Manila
In the first four galleries, Somos Pacífico uncovers the untold stories of artists, traders, and consumers from 1565 to 1815, highlighting connections between Asia and the Americas.
Starting with the pre-colonial histories of Mesoamerica and the Philippines, the exhibition introduces longstanding trade links between these regions and their close cultural ties. The arrival of explorers and conquistadors such as Hernán Cortés, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, and Ferdinand Magellan set the stage for the creation of the Mexican Pacific. Magellan’s historic circumnavigation of the globe established crucial trade routes between Acapulco and Manila, connecting the Americas and Southeast Asia.
In tandem with the emergence of these two important port cities, galleons sailing between Mexico and the Philippines laid the foundation for the world’s first truly transpacific industry. On display will be a 1:32 scale model of a Manila galleon, commissioned by ACM – the only historically accurate model of its kind today.
With the establishment of the galleon trade, the exhibition uncovers the often-overlooked cultural exchanges that shaped goods still found in our daily lives. Mexican and Peruvian silver, along with natural commodities like cocoa (chocolate), were carried from Acapulco to Asia, while Asian goods like porcelain and silk flowed westward.
The exhibition also highlights export art influenced by chocolate drinking culture, religious art carved by Chinese artists in the Philippines, and Mexican lacquerwares and enconchados (mother-of-pearl inlay works), which seamlessly blend indigenous and Japanese techniques. These objects reflect the vibrant cosmopolitanism of port cities, where galleon crews from around the world interacted. Diplomatic missions, like the Japanese Hasekura embassy to Mexico and Europe, further highlight the expansive global networks that shaped the early modern Pacific world.
Artistic parallels across continents
The final three galleries of Somos Pacífico illuminate how modern and contemporary artists from Southeast Asia and Latin America have long been in conversation – sharing ideas, confronting colonial legacies, and asserting their identities through art.
Presented as Tropical: Historias de Asia del Sureste (Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia), this chapter extends the Gallery’s curatorial research into the Global South, reframing how art history is written by placing Southeast Asia in dialogue with other regions that have similarly redefined modernism on their own terms. Featuring 33 works, including 29 pieces from the Gallery’s Collection, it traces how Southeast Asian artists, like their Latin American counterparts, attempted to challenge conventions and colonialism as newfound torchbearers of modern art. These artworks are accompanied by artist manifestos, inviting audiences into the artistic and intellectual discourse of that era.
94.4 x 74 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore.
Tjitji, 1949. Oil on paper laid on masonite. 64 x 49 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore.
Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore.
The chapter begins by tracing the resonances across the muralist movements in Mexico and the Philippines, with examples from artists such as Carlos ‘Botong’ Francisco and Galo B. Ocampo who rejected idyllic European-centric ideals to depict the lived reality and histories of their people. This sentiment resonated across Southeast Asia, with Indonesian painters like S. Sudjojono and Hendra Gunawan imbuing their paintings with a vision of nationhood, embedding art within the struggle for self-determination. Presented alongside a section from Diego Rivera’s
monumental Río Juchitán (Cuatro tableros), these works together highlight the shared impulses across Southeast Asia and Mexico to use painting as a space to reimagine the colonial past and envision possible futures.
In The Library of the Tropics, Bali emerges as a site of creative production in response to Dutch colonialism and mass tourism, becoming a pivotal site in 20th-century art history. Examined alongside Mexico’s own relationship with the exotic, the section considers how perceptions of the tropics have long been implicated with issues of colonialism, power, representation, commercial demand, and the negotiation of cultural agency. Visitors will encounter a collection of browsable books – from travel guides to romance novels – alongside films, paintings and posters revolving around the island of Bali.
This section also spotlights Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias’ travels between Bali and southern Mexico in the 1930s and 1990s, revealing extraordinary affinities between these two seemingly distant places. Today, both Bali and Mexico remain popular tourist destinations, raising questions about the persistent entanglements between modern art, mass tourism, and the enduring appeal of the exotic. The Library of the Tropics reflects on how sites like Bali and Mexico continue to persist within an imagination of the tropics.
Solidarities in self-determinism continued to be explored by later generations of Southeast Asian artists. Patrick Ng Kah Onn activated portraiture, indigenous motifs, and representations of identity as strategies to engage with social and political change in new nation states, using familiar tropical settings to show everyday life rather than the exotic, passive scenes often seen through a colonial lens. Artists like Malaysian painter-poet Latiff Mohidin and Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul further redefined the “tropical” not only as geography, but as a revolutionary attitude that spoke of renewal and resistance. Together, their works reclaim the “tropical” from the outsider’s gaze, transforming it into a subject with its own voice, one that expresses identity, creativity, and self-definition.
Tropical: Historias de Asia del Sureste traces how artists from Southeast Asia and Latin America – worlds apart yet shaped by similar colonial histories – used art to reclaim modernism on their own terms. From the nation-building visions of Southeast Asian painters to the political charge of Mexican muralism, the exhibition reveals how both regions turned to art as a means of resistance, identity, and imagination. It also explores how ideas of the “tropical,” once framed through colonial and touristic lenses, were transformed by later artists into symbols of cultural agency and solidarity. Together, these stories illuminate the enduring connections across the Global South and the shared drive to envision new futures beyond inherited narratives.
Somos Pacífico is an extension of ACM and NGS’s prolific exchange as important nodes in the international museum network. Key international exhibitions in 2025 include Andrew Gn: Fashioning the World with the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, United States and Georgette Chen: At Home in the World with the He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China, respectively.
El Galeón Acapulco – Manila SOMOS PACÍFICO El Mundo que emergió del Trópic runs from 3 December 2025 to 31 May 2026 at the Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City. An exhibition conference featuring curators and experts from ACM, the Gallery, and other institutions will be held on 4 December 2025.
ANNEX A: ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
El Galeón Acapulco – Manila SOMOS PACÍFICO El Mundo que emergió del Trópico
Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City, Mexico
In collaboration with the Asian Civilisations Museum and National Gallery Singapore 3 December 2025 – 31 May 2026
The Asian Civilisations Museum and National Gallery Singapore present El Galeón Acapulco – Manila SOMOS PACÍFICO El Mundo que emergió del Trópico, on view at the historic Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City. Marking 50 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Mexico, the exhibition brings together 80 works from Singapore’s National Collection, including paintings, sculptures, silver coins, and porcelain, shown in dialogue with loans from leading institutions and private collections in Mexico and beyond.
Originating from the Asian Civilisations Museum’s Manila Galleon: From Asia to the Americas and enriched by National Gallery Singapore’s Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America, Somos Pacífico explores cultural exchanges between Asia and Latin America, highlighting how artists on both sides of the Pacific have navigated histories of colonialism, trade, and transformation. Through immersive displays, it brings to life how art, trade, and storytelling continue to shape our interconnected world.
ANNEX B: EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS FROM SINGAPORE’S NATIONAL COLLECTION
Asian Art & Material Culture
The three founders of the Spanish colony in the Philippines
Probably Philippines, late 17th century
Oil on wood, 96.3 × 76.3 cm
The three men seen here were crucial to the establishment of the Spanish colony of the Philippines and the Manila galleon trade. From the left, they are Andrés de Urdaneta (1498–1568), Miguel López de Legazpi (1502–1572), and Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521).
A Portuguese navigator working for Spain, Magellan led the first fleet to circumnavigate the world, but was killed in the Philippines before he could return to Europe. In 1565, Legazpi and Urdaneta founded the first European settlement in the Philippines, in Cebu. Urdaneta’s documentation of his voyage helped establish the galleon route between Manila and Acapulco. The scene seen in the painting is imaginary as the three men were never together in real life.
Asian Civilisations Museum 2016-00745
Model of a Manila galleon, 1:32 scale
Maximo Agudo Mangas, Ivan Valdez-Bubnov, Jorge Loyzaga
Mexico and Spain, 2023
Wood, metal, and canvas
This ship model is the result of a collaborative effort between institutions from Mexico, Spain, the Philippines, and Singapore, reflecting a shared commitment to creating a historically accurate representation of a fully fitted Manila galleon. The design is based on construction plans from 18th-century manuscripts. The high forecastles and stern castles provided extra space for transporting a diverse range of valuable commodities, such as silk, porcelain, spices, precious metals, and tobacco.
The model was commissioned by ACM and constructed by Maximo Agudo Mangas in consultation with Dr Iván Valdez-Bubnov, from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Mangas has built ship models for the Spanish royal family and museums in Spain and Mexico. Valdez-Bubnov is a naval historian who researches the galleon trade.
Asian Civilisations Museum 2023-01376
Jar with metal cover
China, Jingdezhen, around 1700
Porcelain, iron, height 55 cm
Jars like this, with iron covers, collars, and locks, are commonly referred to as chocolate jars (chocolateros). They were used to store cacao beans for making chocolate, but also other delicacies such as vanilla and spices. They could be locked to protect the contents from theft. Such jars could be made in many places, but this one is of Chinese porcelain, with the iron elements added later.
Asian Civilisations Museum 2021-00272
Writing cabinet with the arms of Mexico City
Philippines, Manila, early 17th century
Wood, bone, silver, 32.5 × 42.2 × 33.6 cm
This cabinet is a striking fusion of cultural influences, combining a European form with Chinese and Filipino craftsmanship and Mexica (Aztec) motifs. The inlay decoration on the shows the foundation myth of Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Mexica (Aztecs), which became the coat of arms of Mexico. It serves as a tangible symbol of the complex circulation of people, goods, and ideas that took place during the colonial period.
Asian Civilisations Museum 2019-00743
Saint Philip of Jesus
Manila or Mexico, 18th century
Carved and painted wood, height 50 cm
Saint Philip of Jesus (Felipe de Jesús) was a Franciscan missionary and one of the “26 Martyrs” of Japan. He was aboard a galleon that wrecked off the coast of Japan in 1596, enroute from Manila to Mexico. Its crew and passengers were imprisoned and brought to Nagasaki. Christianity had been banned in Japan in 1587, and the Japanese government had Phillip, and 25 other religious men executed in public by crucifixion and stabbing. Philip became the first Mexican saint in 1862 and is the patron saint of Mexico City.
Asian Civilisations Museum 2021-00270
Portable shrine with Jesuit emblem
Japan, around 1600
Lacquer, gold, and mother-of-pearl on wood, 49 × 33 cm
The Crucifixion
Joseph Almorin
Mexico, 1778
Oil on wood
The frame of this shrine was probably made in the lacquer workshops of Kyoto before Christianity was banned for the second time in Japan in 1614. The Jesuit emblem appears at the top in the pediment, indicating that it was commissioned by the order. It likely travelled from Japan to Manila and then to Mexico. The now-lost original painting was probably a Christian image, made in Western style at one of the Jesuit art schools in Japan. A new painting showing Christ on the Cross with the Apostle John and the Virgin Mary was added in Mexico in the 18th century.
Asian Civilisations Museum 2022-00369
Bowl with Puebla’s medal commemorating the accession of Charles IV
China, Jingdezhen, after 1790
Porcelain, diameter 22.5 cm
Several cities and institutions commissioned medals to celebrate the accession of Charles IV in 1788, with the new king’s portrait on one side and institutional arms on the other. Puebla was the second most important city in Mexico after the capital. It held its accession celebrations in 1790.
These commemorative events in a sense signalled the end of the Spanish empire – a series of disasters led to Charles’ abdication in 1808. Shortly afterwards, Napoleon took control of Spain, the galleon trade ended, and the Mexican War of Independence began.
Asian Civilisations Museum 2022-00044
Diorama of the Parian Scene
Angelito Baldemor
Manila, 2025
Wood, bamboo, straw, abaca, fabric, sandpaper, lacquer, varnish and oil paint, 50 x 119 x 80 cm
This diorama depicts everyday life in the Parián, a commercial and residential area in Manila built to house “Sangley” (Chinese) merchants in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was made by Angelito Baldemor, a Filipino artist from Paete, a renowned woodcarving town to the southeast of Manila. During Spanish rule the Parián functioned as a central marketplace where Chinese merchants traded valuable items such as silk, textiles, porcelain, spices, and food products. Artisans provided skilled services such as shipbuilding and carpentry. Marketplaces like this were vital to the colonial economy, especially during the period of the galleon trade, when Manila served as a major port linking the Philippines with trade routes in the Americas.
Asian Civilisations Museum 2025-00669
A mestiza
Justiniano Asuncion (Philippines, 1816–1896)
Signed: “Par Justiniano Asunción año de 1843“
Manila, 1843
Watercolour and gold on paper, 25.5 × 17.5 cm
This image of a mestiza (a woman of mixed indigenous and European parentage) has an individualised character. Particular attention is paid to the translucency and delicate lacework of the woman’s triangular shawl.
Asian Civilisations Museum 2019-00767
Modern & Contemporary Art
Galo B. Ocampo
Moro Dance 1946
Oil on canvas, 94.4 x 74 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore
Emiria Sunassa
Orang Irian dengan Burung Tjenderawasih (Irian Man with Bird of Paradise)
1948
Oil on canvas, 67.2 x 54.5 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore
Patrick Ng Kah Onn
Self-Portrait
1958
Oil on paper, 49.3 x 75.3 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
This acquisition was made possible with donations to the Art Adoption & Acquisition Programme
© Family of Patrick Ng
Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore
Hendra Gunawan
Tjitji
1949
Oil on paper laid on Masonite, 64 x 49 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore
Cheong Soo Pieng
Boy with Bird
1953
Oil on canvas, 110 x 80 cm
Private collection
Latiff Mohidin
Two Standing Figures
1968
Oil on canvas, 88 x 67 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Blue
2018
Single channel video installation, colour and sound,
10 min 10 sec
Collection of Singapore Art Museum
ABOUT THE ASIAN CIVILISATIONS MUSEUM
The Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) presents the art and history of Asia through the lens of Singapore as a cosmopolitan Asian port city – connecting people and cultures in Asia and beyond. As the only museum in the region with a pan-Asian scope, ACM is devoted to exploring the rich artistic heritage of Asia through our outstanding collection of masterpieces and ground-breaking special exhibitions. Opened in 1997 and in its present building by the Singapore River since 2003, the museum traces its roots to the Raffles Museum, founded in the middle of the 19th century.
ACM celebrates Asian art, craft, and imagination through four broad cross-cultural themes – Maritime Trade, Faith and Belief, Materials and Design, and Peranakan art and culture.
ABOUT NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE
National Gallery Singapore is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year as a leading visual arts institution and the largest modern and contemporary art museum in Southeast Asia. Dedicated to making art accessible to all, the Gallery engages audiences of all ages through its exhibitions, educational programmes, and public festivals.
Home to the world’s largest public collection of Singapore and Southeast Asian art, the Gallery is redefining the region’s art history through pioneering research, strategic acquisitions, and thoughtfully curated exhibitions. By offering new perspectives, it recontextualises the region’s artistic contributions within global narratives.
Located in the heart of the Civic District, the Gallery is housed in two national monuments – the City Hall and former Supreme Court – making it an iconic cultural landmark where architectural grandeur meets deep historical significance.
A vibrant cultural destination, the Gallery has been ranked among Asia’s Top 10 most visited museums by The Art Newspaper since 2019. It has also received accolades at the Singapore Tourism Awards, including “Best Leisure Event” for Light to Night Festival 2020 and “Outstanding Leisure Event” for Gallery Children’s Biennale 2021.
As a registered Charity and an Institute of Public Character, the Gallery relies on public support to expand its collection, advance research, and bring art to more people, shaping cultural discourse and inspiring creativity for generations to come.
 and National Gallery Singapore (NGS) takes centre stage at El Galeón Acapulco – Manila SOMOS PACÍFICO El Mundo que emergió del Trópico. Marking 50 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Mexico, the exhibition brings together 80 works from Singapore’s National Collection, including paintings, sculpture, silver coins, and porcelain, shown in dialogue with loans from leading institutions and private collections in Mexico and beyond.){kind=link}