Dewi Tan Jing Ying
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

 

Educational Background

  • Master of Environmental Science, Yale School of the Environment
  • Bachelor of Arts (Double Major) in Anthropology & Art History, New York University

Research Brief

Dewi's research examines how shopping malls circulate environmental narratives among the public in Singapore. Drawing on environmental anthropology, critical media theory and urban studies, she investigates how state-driven climate narratives are embedded within these spaces, revealing malls as pivotal sites in the political entanglements of resource extraction, urban development, cultural memory and land-use contestation. Her work also considers how malls function as moral and affective infrastructures, where questions of environmental ethics, guilt and responsibility are mediated through consumer practices and spiritual worldviews.

Research Areas

  • Climate Resilience
  • Consumption Culture
  • Environmental Ethics
  • Environmental Narratives
  • Media Ecology
  • Shopping Malls
  • Speculative Design
  • Urban Screens

Awards

  • Provost Graduate Award, School of Art, Design and Media (ADM), Nanyang Technological University.
  • Collaborative Fellowship Award, Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF), Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG).
  • Mobley Environmental Humanities Grant, Yale University.
  • Tropical Resources Institute (TRI) Research Fellow in Indonesia, Yale University.
  • Southeast Asia Studies Fellowship Award, Yale University.
  • Charles Kao Fund Research Grant, Yale University.
  • Dean Undergraduate Research Funding (DURF), New York University.
  • Ranieri International Scholars Fund for Ancient Studies, New York University.

Projects

  • Kiss the Rain, Selected for Torino Film Lab (TFL) Next – Feature Film; Developed at Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) Film Lab, 2025.
  • Beyond the Landfill, Director; Screened at DOCNYC, Jakarta Film Week, Film Festival Purbalingga; Developed at Docs by The Sea Editing Lab, 2021.
  • Los Caminos de la Mente, Director; Developed at Black Factory Cinema’s Workshop with Werner Herzog, 2018.
  • The Cycle, Co-Director; Freedom Film Festival, New York Short Film Festival, KASHISH Pride Film Festival, Out on Film Festival; Supported by Tisch Pro Funds – New York University, 2017.

Exhibitions

  • Modern Abyss Eco-Guilt, Group exhibition, Currents New Media Festival, El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, 2025.
  • When Does a Frame Become a Memory?, Singapore Art Week (SAW), Katong Shopping Centre, Singapore, 2025.
  • Possibly Impossible, Group exhibition, Island Keepers Exhibition, Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA), Athens, Greece, 2025.

Publications

  • Failed Architecture. (2023, December). As Jakarta Sinks, the Rising Sea Presents a Convenient Scapegoat.
  • MoMA Magazine. (2023, August). Place Is My Medium: Mary Miss Finds Art Under Ground. (Built Ecologies Video Series).
  • Society & Space. (2022, August). Starting with Sarinah: Chasing Modernity through Indonesia’s Iconic Shopping Mall.
  • MoMA Magazine. (2022, June). Designing for Other Species. (Built Ecologies Video Series).
  • Resilience Quarterly. (2021, September). Onion Cloud. (The New School’s Urban Systems Lab).
  • Edge Effects. (2021, July). To Build a New Capital City, Indonesia Must Design for Resilience.

Presentations

  • Coastal Defence Measures for Rising Tides: A Case Study on Singapore’s Long Island Plan, Presenter. NTU Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), Singapore, November 2024.
  • The Discourse of Resilience in a Sinking Jakarta, Co-presenter. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, June 2023.
  • Experts, Truth Claims, and Uncertainty: Towards an Anthropology of Risk in the 21st Century, Co-presenter. American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, November 2021.
  • Unpacking the Sociopolitical Production of Urban Floods in Jakarta, Presenter. Grounding Meaning Panel, Yale InterAsia Water(s) Conference, May 2021.
  • Water Resource Politics in Jakarta: From Urban Flooding to the Water Supply Crisis in a Sinking Capital, Presenter. Yale School of the Environment Research Day, April 2021.
  • Examining Relokasi: A Review of Indonesia’s Capital Move from Jakarta to Kalimantan, Co-presenter. Yale Indonesian Forum, November 2020.