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Singapore artists on a roll

SINGAPORE — Inspired by their travels, memories of family and their own “tribes”, Singapore artists are showcasing contemporary artworks in various spaces across the island, from the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) to Gillman Barracks.

SINGAPORE — Inspired by their travels, memories of family and their own “tribes”, Singapore artists are showcasing contemporary artworks in various spaces across the island, from the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) to Gillman Barracks.

SPEAK CRYPTIC PRESENTS HIS TRIBE

Popular visual artist Farizwan Fajari, who goes by the moniker Speak Cryptic is presenting his street and punk-inspired illustrations at his first solo show in Singapore in 10 years at Chan + Hori Contemporary at Gillman Barracks.

Running until May 28, the exhibition Knives in the Water will also feature the artist on site at the gallery almost every day for the run of the show. There, he is executing his largest painting on canvas that will be officially revealed at the exhibition’s closing party on May 25.

Inspired by his own personal narrative, the fresh set of works for this exhibition exposes his “tribe”. The paintings feature people with elements such as clothing patches, tools and headdresses — modernised “tribal” elements. Farizwan’s “ethnological” approach behind the exhibition challenges visitors to examine themselves and see how they fit, or not, amongst these “tribal” hybrids of South-east Asia.

The artist hopes visitors leave his exhibition “feeling that they’ve just left an anthropological exhibition”.

IMAGINARIUM IS A WONDERLAND

At the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Imaginarium: To the Ends of the Earth, features works from artists across the region including Singaporean artists Calvin Pang and Mary Bernadette Lee.

Pang’s Where am I comprises clusters of tiny mushrooms hidden away in overlooked corners of the museum while Lee’s Wanderland is an immersive, interactive installation of teepee tents with suspended mobiles, textile birds and hangings

Lee hopes to evoke a sense of the natural environment. It is the first time she is presenting her work at SAM.

She is especially connected to a spotted dove in the exhibit, a tribute to her late grandmother.

She described an incident when both she and her grandmother tried to move a spotted dove from a parking lot.

“She told me that we needed to help move the bird to a safe place, in case it was injured,” Lee recalled. “As I approached it, ready to cup it in my hands, the dove suddenly took flight, which sent both of us into a frenzy of laughing fits.”

The memory lingers, and Lee said her grandmother, who died seven years ago, “showed me what it meant to be kind to an animal whether dead or alive”.

CONSUMERISM UNVEILED

Husband-and-wife photographer Stefen Chow and economist Lin Hui-Yi have explored the issue of poverty in the past.

At Objectifs, the centre for photography and film, they are tackling the tough topic of social and economic inequality.

The pair are presenting a showcase of 1,000 photographs of recycled aluminium cans in their first solo show in Singapore. This weekend is the last chance to see the exhibition, Equivalence — Cans, which runs until Sunday (May 14).

The cans, often collected by the elderly and low-income earners in Singapore, were photographed individually on the grounds of a waste metal collection centre in Singapore, according to Chow. He and Lin explored the value of the cans and today, the 1,000 cans form a combined value of just S$15.00. At the heart of the exhibition is a picture of a plastic iPhone 6 case — which you can also buy for S$15 here, said Chow.

He and Lin want to shine a spotlight on value, and what it means.

Contrasts have often come to the forefront for Chow.

The Malaysia-born photographer, who has travelled the world, remembered a particular week nearly 10 years ago, when he spent time in both New York and Kolkata.

“My friends were telling me how fantastic New York was, with the majestic Wall Street, the glitz of Times Square... But when I walked along the streets, I couldn’t help but notice the numerous people begging on the streets, people who were rummaging through garbage cans or lying in the streets, invisible to other New Yorkers who breezed past them,” he recalled.

In Kolkata, driving from the airport into the city at night, he noticed hordes of people sleeping along one lane of the road. Struck by the sight, he asked his cabbie about it.

“He said that the poor could sleep on the roads, and that was a public facility. Sleeping outside buildings or on the pavement was considered to be private property,” said Chow.

“I had to ask: Is it easier to be poor in New York or in Kolkata? From there, I set out to find out more, do research and perhaps share (what Lin and I have discovered through) our visual work.”

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