SKL0 with the flow

Samantha Lo shows us the prototype of her latest project. It’s one of those small, red, metal “in case of emergency” boxes — except this one contains a fake smart phone and it reads: “In case of solitude break glass”.

Yes, like her previous work, it’s still cheeky. But in light of all that she’s been through, one can’t help but sense a hint of poignancy here as well — especially after she points out that her artist pseudonym, SKL0, isn’t just an abbreviation of her name but also the Swedish word for “glass”.

Most notably, for someone who’s been infamously labelled the “Sticker Lady”, this project doesn’t involve stickers.

A HUGE RELIEF

“I’m not a big fan of that name, lah. I’m not even ladylike in the first place,” laughed Lo. We’re at Aliwal Arts Centre, settling in at the studio space she shares with other members of the art collective RSCLS, and she’s ready to talk.

In her all-black berms-and-T-shirt get-up, the 26-year-old artist looks relaxed. On her right hand, a tattoo of the word “Inspire”.

“I just want to remind myself to be a good person,” she grins.

It’s been a few weeks since the culmination of what has been a long ordeal for Lo.

On May 8, Lo was sentenced to 240 hours of community service after having pleaded guilty to seven counts of mischief for spray-painting “My Grandfather Road” on several roads, as well as putting up her stickers on traffic stop lights. (Her fellow artist/RSCLS member Anthony Chong, aka Antz, was also sentenced to 160 hours for assisting her.)

Lo has yet to find out what sort of community service is in store for her, but she’s just glad that the “Sticker Lady Saga” is finally over — whatever the outcome was going to be.

“That was a huge relief … Knowing that I didn’t have to wait anymore,” she admitted. “I mean, for the past 11 months, I was preparing myself mentally and emotionally. The only thing I really expected was the possibility of being arrested when I first did it. (But) I didn’t really expect this much attention.”

It was attention with a capital A. Her arrest in June 2012 sparked a huge debate on street/urban/graffiti art, vandalism and the limits of creative expression. Everyone offered their two cents worth either in support of or against her actions, and a townhall meeting by the arts community was organised to discuss the implications.

“The first few weeks were really, really tough, lah. After coming out of (police) lock-up, I was a hermit for a week, just battling thoughts in my head. I didn’t expect my friends and loved ones to feel all this pressure as well,” she said.

It was doubly hard when it came to her parents, she admitted. The only child of a pilot and a homemaker, Lo said she felt pretty guilty the day of the arrest. “They didn’t say it, but I felt they were disappointed. That’s the worst feeling you could ever get.”

What happened the following day, however, cheered her up somewhat, as black stickers similar to hers appeared on Facebook as a sign of solidarity from admirers.

“I broke down, man. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life,” she said. “When (my parents) saw the public speaking for me and being totally supportive, they felt, ‘Okay, our kid’s actually not so bad’.”

At the height of the issue, Lo refused to comment publicly, but she continued to work. A few weeks after lock-up, she was invited by The Substation to create a huge mural version of her sticker design on its wall.

Its single word, Opportunity, stood for many things. “It gave me the opportunity to be closer to my family, to really see who your real friends are; it was an opportunity for people to benefit from. It was an opportunity for the arts.”

She also collaborated (albeit anonymously) with Thai artist Pratchaya Phinthong for a Thai survey show at the Singapore Art Museum. The work saw her splashing disappearing ink on the museum walls and “just ‘vandalise’, like how everyone saw me at that point”.

“To vandalise a wall in a commissioned space was a statement,” she said. “And it’s funny.”

CULTURE ISSUES

The authorities, of course, didn’t think her street interventions were funny. And when you couple that with the fact that, yes, Lo was fully aware she was breaking the law, one just has to ask: Why did she do it?

“I really believed in it enough to actually want to do it,” she said.

While running her online magazine RCGNTN, which was set up in 2009 to showcase Singapore creative talents who were under the radar, she realised her exploration of Singapore culture was getting buried under the information overload from other similar platforms, and that she was mostly preaching to the converted.

Hence, the stickers. “It was very straightforward. Four or three words. It was meant to capture your attention in five seconds.”

For obvious reasons, taking to the streets again the way she did isn’t really an option for Lo.

“No, I will not break the law again,” she said. “But I have to be honest. I miss putting things up to make people react.”

Today, Lo is adjusting to this new, post-Sticker Lady Saga identity she’s found herself with. Her “exposure”, for instance, has somehow led to more commissions from the establishment.

She’s now working on campaigns for the Night Safari (on animal conservation) and Sentosa (signages similar to her stoplight stickers). Earlier this year, her group RSCLS also worked with Singapore River One for an underpass mural project — which, as Lo cheekily pointed out, was in partnership with the same authorities that frowned hard at her street interventions. “It felt good,” she quipped, good-naturedly.

She’s also slowly creeping into people’s homes — via more “conventional” art forms. In the studio, Lo showed me one of her recent works, a painting that’s a visual pun on the “cultured milk drink” Yakult, with the phrase “More Cultured Than You Will Ever Be!”

“Everything’s a learning journey,” said Lo, who does not come from a trained arts background. “It’s quite scary mixing it up with all these guys who’ve done it for 13, 10 years. I’m the black sheep here!” she laughed, referring to her group, which comprises some of the more established names in the art scene.

COMMUNITY ART

The one thing that hasn’t changed, it would seem, is her desire to engage the community. And being a member of the very active RSCLS has been pivotal.

While the debate on whether street art loses its bite once it’s been embraced by the mainstream continues (which, in a sense, her collective is now part of, being a seed grant recipient of the National Arts Council), Lo and her friends just keep going, holding events, graffiti jams, workshops and artist talks.

One ambitious project is Solidarity 21, which aims to document and research urban and street art across Singapore and Asia (the group is flying to Manila in July to touch base with their counterparts there).

But they’re equally as keen to nurture something closer to home. “With RSCLS, we’ve got plans for some community initiatives. Every couple of months, we want to go out and teach kids how to paint, do things. I think what we do is community service.” She pauses. “I think art in general is already community service.”

Just try not to call her Sticker Lady.

SKL0 and the rest of the members of RSCLS take part in the Aliwal Arts Centre’s open house event on June 14, 7pm to 11pm, featuring “live” street/graffiti art at the centre and around the Kampong Glam district. For more of our interview with SKL0, visit For Art’s Sake (http://tdy.sg/artssakeblog).