“The Best of You” exhibition initiated by Julie’s

I think everyone who grew up in Singapore would be familiar with Julie’s.I’m really glad to be part of the lineup in their “The Best of You” exhibition held at the central atrium of Marina Square from 13-18 Oct 2015.I showed Teppei because I feel that it fits in most with the theme. Audiences’ reactions to it are always fascinating to see:The exhibition revolves around the stories of ordinary people placed side by side with the stories of personalities such as Cultural Medallion winner Dick Lee as ordinary people:On to the artworks at the exhibition:

Here’s someone looking at Within/Without by Ivan Lee Mora, a glass artist based in Los Angeles, California:My favourite piece at the show is probably Dan Takeda’s 心 kokoro. From the outside it’s an assuming hole in the wall obscured by black drapes:Upon entering however, it’s like another world. There’s only a tatami mat, the smell of incense, and an orchid with its roots exposed suspended in the air.

Arthur who invited me to be part of the show. I sat beside him when we were in Primary 1 and this is the first time we’ve spoken to each other in 20 years!I felt very loved by my parents who came all the way down to Marina Square for me. My husband caught my dad taking a photo of Teppei with his handphone.

Official website of the exhibition:

http://www.the-best-of-you.com/exhibition

“Living Stills” @ Utterly Art

I had the privilege of writing 3 essays in the catalogue for the group show “Living Stills” featuring the works of Mr Ling Yang Chang, Mr Richard Lim and Mr Foo Kwee Horng (download it here: Catalogue – “Living Stills”). The show which opened at Utterly Art on 25 Jun 2015 featured 3 interpretations of the still life genre in 3 different mediums – watercolour, oil and chinese ink.  Snapshot of the opening night (pulled from Mr Lim’s FB):

“Life Series” by Shirley Poh

I’m thankful for the opportunity to curate with Chankerk, the first exhibition of Shirley Poh – “Life Series” (Download the exhibition essay written by me here: Exhibition Essay – “Life Series”).

Setting up:Chankerk is the most experienced amongst us at hanging shows. He had to rush off for a meeting though so it’s up us 3 ladies to hold the fort! Xinyi lending her keen eye to see if the paintings are hung exaaactly right: And it’s finally done!! Now, to wait until the guests start streaming in at 6-ish, 7 when the opening is scheduled to start. The star of the night – artist behind all the paintings:Guests leaving well wishes for Shirley in the guestbook:Exhibition postcards designed by Xinyi:The crowd:Chankerk introducing the exhibition:Much of “Life” in Shirley’s case is spent living amongst people – at work and within a large, close-knitted extended family. What struck me most that night were the people from Shirley’s life congregating in the gallery whose universal concerns inspired the series on display. Did they see themselves mirrored within the picture frames?

Kepulauan Book Launch

After months of preparation, the book launch is finally here! Held on Sunday, 9 Nov 2014 at the Singapore Writers Festival Pavilion on the Campus Green of Singapore Management University, I went down to take a look at the physical book for the first time =)

The cover image is one of my oil paintings 😉Some of the other books at the launch, including Catherine Lim’s newest collection:The lady herself signing books at the event:

But we’re here for Kepulauan, which is launching with another book called Red Pulse II.

I love how Kepulauan is felicitously green next to Red Pulse – which incidentally is also the schema that I used in my painting – a crimson red chinese junk against a stormy glacier green sea.

The festivities kick off with a tête-à-tête with the editors, Zhang Jieqiang, Hidhir Razak and Marcus Tan.

Writers Tysha Khan, Alyssa Teo and Hidhir Razak (who’s also one of our editors) gave readings of their poems.

Look at all these people at the launch!

Tysha does a little book signing of her own…

I hunted down the editors and got my book signed too!

So happy to get an exclusive signed book =)

I also did some signing although I didn’t write any of the poems in the book!

The guy in the checkered shirt is Crispin, one of the contributing poets in Kepulauan.

Evelyn Lee, whose poems also appear in Kepulauan:

Here I’m with Adeleena on my right and Diana on my left from Ethos Books. The book wouldn’t have been possible without them.