Sebastian Mary Tay
WORKS EXHIBITIONS PROFILE
Sebastian Mary Tay (b. 1989, Singapore) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator with a Doctor of Philosophy in Art History from Ragusa, Italy (2025) and a Master of Research from Glasgow, United Kingdom (2016). His individual research examines the existential foundation of the photographic medium within the context of contemporary artificial intelligence imaging visual culture.
Tay’s artworks have been exhibited internationally, notably in exhibitions such as Superhuman Expedition, United Kingdom; Pixel Paradise, Singapore; the 8th Singapore International Photography Festival, Singapore; Glasgow Open House Arts Festival, UK; Frame & Frequency, USA; NIDA International Photography Symposium, Lithuania; Oscillations: Adventures in Metamodernism, Singapore; Utopia – What’s Yours?, UK; and The Society of Scottish Artists’ annual exhibitions. His works have also been shown on multiple occasions at The Royal Scottish Academy, where he received the Royal Scottish Academy Latimer Award. Tay was additionally awarded the Royal Glasgow Institute Prize. In recent years, he has collaborated with Meta Open Arts on diverse projects, including site-specific photographic installations and an augmented reality filter developed in partnership with Messenger. In 2022, he was awarded the Ngee Ann Young Promising Artist Award.
Tay’s teaching areas encompass art history, contextual studies, contemporary art practice, critical and contemporary theory, photography history and theory, as well as photographic and other lens-based practices. He has been invited as a guest speaker and lecturer by numerous institutions internationally, including City of Glasgow College, UK; The Royal Scottish Academy, UK; Mount Florida Studios, UK; the University of the West of Scotland, UK; DECK, Singapore; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore. He currently holds adjunct lecturer positions at the University of the Arts Singapore, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, LASALLE College of the Arts, and Nanyang Technological University.
Tay is based between Singapore and Korea, and is actively producing new works and preparing forthcoming exhibitions in Singapore. He is an elected Professional Member of The Society of Scottish Artists (SSA).