London Exhibit Depicts St. Sebastian As An Asian Trans Man

In an exhibit at  the National Gallery in London this past spring, Singaporean artist Ming Wong retold the story of early Christian martyr St. Sebastian through film, depicting him as an Asian trans man.

The artist Ming Wong as St. Sebastian, an image from the exhibit.

The installation, which is made up of several videos, shows transgender models representing the saint listening to a seashell, dancing, or doing martial arts. According to GB News, the fact that models are “barely clothed” is not unusual for depictions of St. Sebastian. Most of the videos conclude with arrows piercing St. Sebastian, along with stills of other religious imagery in the National Gallery.

Church history records that St. Sebastian was martyred during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the early fourth century C.E. In church tradition, the saint survived one execution when they bound him and shot him with arrows. Irene of Rome nursed him back to health, a scene which permeates 17th-century art. 

Once healthy, St. Sebastian confronted the Emperor Diocletian by naming his sins, “a decision that ultimately cost him his life when he was beaten to death.” Both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches venerate Sebastian as the patron saint of athletics, archery, and plagues. 

While medieval images of the saint cast him as older and more mature, in the 14th-century his image grew more youthful, and much softer. In the Renaissance, artists began depicting St. Sebastian as a handsome young man. Throughout history, various artists have associated the saint with homoerotic imagery, or used his story to explore homosexuality. Wong’s imagining of the saint as trans is only the latest link in a long chain of queer interpretations. 

The other characters depicted in the videos are also gender-diverse. The article reports:

“Latin-speaking Roman soldiers are performed by Asian actors of different genders, alongside the artist himself, staging a dialogue between an ancient past and a global present.”

Wong is the fifth of the National Gallery’s Artists-in-Residence. He was appointed in 2025 as part of an initiative to highlight more contemporary art. Of the appointment, Wong says:

“There isn’t a better time to reimagine the stories that these characters and creatures inhabiting these worlds can tell one another, and their exchanges that cross centuries and civilisations beyond the frames.”

The Curator of Modern and Contemporary Projects at the Gallery, Daniel F. Herrman, says of Wong’s work:

“With genuine compassion, curiosity and grace, Ming Wong’s work asks how the images and culture around us create notions of ourselves and others. We are excited to be working with him during his residency at the National Gallery, particularly as we reflect on the Gallery’s 200-year history.”

—Phoebe Carstens, New Ways Ministry, May 27, 2026

For a review of the installation which appeared in The Tablet, a London-based Catholic journal, click here.