SINGAPORE — Singaporean performance artist and Cultural Medallion recipient Lee Wen bested two other finalists from Myanmar and Vietnam to win this year’s Joseph Balestier Award for the Freedom of Art.

The annual award, which was launched last year by art fair Art Stage Singapore and the United States Embassy in Singapore to honour an artist or curator from South-east Asia who embodies the ideals of liberty and freedom of expression, was presented tonight (Jan 19) at a ceremony held at the residence of the US Ambassador to Singapore. The award is named after the US’ first Consul-General to Singapore, who served in the early 1800s.

Lee, who was also nominated for last year’s inaugural edition, won over Vietnam’s Nguyen Trinh Thi and Myanmar’s Aye Ko, another nominee from last year. The award comes with a US$15,000 (S$21,500) prize.

Known for his Yellow Man series of performances and artworks, his interactive Ping-Pong Go Round installation, as well as his links to the seminal collective The Artists Village, Lee is one of the most influential figures in the local art scene. Like a number of other performance artists, Lee had continued to practice the form despite the decade-long funding ban between 1994 and 2004, and spearheaded the performance art festival Future Of Imagination. He had a solo retrospective at the Singapore Art Museum in 2012. He received the Cultural Medallion in 2005.

“There is no stronger voice for freedom of expression in art in Singapore than Lee Wen, who has spent his life speaking truth to power,” said US Ambassador to Singapore Kirk Wagar in a statement. “His artistic legacy has been recognised — his works are included in the collection of Singapore’s National Gallery — and we want to ensure his honesty and moral courage are fully recognised as well.”

Art Stage founder and president Lorenzo Rudolf added: “Artists are seismographs for the political, economic as well as cultural development of our society and it is precisely in this role of an artist that Lee Wen has made a mark in Singapore and on the international scene.”

Meanwhile, Cambodian artist Sareth Svay was named Overall Best Emerging Artist at the Prudential Eye Awards 2016, which also took place tonight at the MasterCard Theatres — Sands Theatre at Marina Bay Sands. Svay, who also won in the Sculpture category, will receive US$50,000 as well as a solo exhibition at London’s Saatchi Gallery later this year.

The other winners in the other categories were: Taiwan’s Huang Po-chih for installation art, India’s Manish Nai for painting, Bangladesh’s Shumon Ahmed for photography and, incidentally, Joseph Balestier prize finalist Nguyen for digital/video art. The winners for the categories will receive US$20,000 each.

Now on its third edition, The Prudential Eye Awards are given to the best emerging artists in the region. Thirteen awards were handed out in the ceremony officiated by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and Visual and Pop Culture Award, which were given to Thailand’s Sakarin Krue-On and rock group Slot Machine, respectively.