Stephen Chen is a multi-disciplinary artist, having been an avant-garde concert pianist, fine-art photographer, filmmaker, performance artist, poet, and opera singer. Despite studying film and photography in Singapore, his focus shifted to more immediate performance forms due to discomfort with the collusion of media and the fascist regime. After fleeing and settling in Canada, Stephen’s interest in the social and political potential of visual media was revived when John Greyson created the role of St. Caesura in FIG TREES (2009) for him. Stephen’s work is often allegorical, integrating social commentary with pedagogy, and hybridizes forms to make them expressive. Central to his work are institutional structures of thought, and Man’s relationship with his surroundings - be it environment, cities, people, or objects.