New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS): Tinu Verghis, the runway super model who bid goodbye to the fashion world to pursue art in 2013, is going to participate at South East Asias premiere art fair, Art Stage 2018 in Singapore.

The event will take place from Thursday till Sunday at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

Working with artist and curator Rajinder Singh, Verghis will appear at an event titled "The Undiscovered Country", a performance art event created specifically for ArtStage Singapore 2018.

The former model will kick off the event during the VIP Preview on Thursday.

"Through the act of piercing or stitching myself with a needle and thread, the performance in collaboration with Rajinder Singh, will be a reflection on mortality," said Verghis.

Born in Kerala, Verghis worked as a fashion model for 15 years before joining LASALLE College of the Arts for both her undergraduate and postgraduate studies. She left her modelling career to pursue art as a channel to address systemic injustice, social and gender inequalities.

In her practice, she uses her body as a political and poetic symbol to challenge and expand preconceived ideas surrounding systems of oppression. By re-examining cultural standards she hopes to unpack misogynist ideas of how the body of a woman is over idealised, systematically abject or subjected to intense policing.

She has won the President's Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Art (Italy) in 2015 for her video art (Under My Skin) and The Winston Oh Travel Research Award (Singapore) in 2016.