From Haji Lane and Baghdad Street in
Kampong Glam to Bugis,
Little India and Chinatown, colourful streets arts scenes are evolving in modern Singapore in a positive way. There are now many legal 'graffiti' walls, mostly shophouses walls that are available for graffities and paintings for local and international artists to show their raw and often hidden talents by splashing their vibrant colours and arts, many with subtle messages.
Perhaps not in the league yet of some major cities like Santiago, Chile or Berlin, Germany, or even Penang, Malaysia, just to name a few, but Singapore is slowly catching up. The word graffiti is a bit of misnomer as most street arts here are commissioned pieces, but there are few places here available for those with artistic talents to show their graffiti, within limits, like the ones at Sultan Arts Village.
I had the opportunity to admire the streets arts in Santiago and Berlin and they were simply amazing. Georgetown, Penang, being a UNESCO World Heritage Site is vibrant too. While the Singapore street arts scenes are quite lively as Haji Lane can attest, many other areas are quite thematic depending on the areas or districts.
Some visitors may compare the touristy Haji Lane to the Mission District in San Francisco. So, while the lively and bright Haji Lane may appeal to some, some likened Haji Lane, dotted with cafes, shops and bars to other touristy streets elsewhere and not exactly raw street arts. Well, drinking a cup of coffee and admiring some street arts with mannequins looking down at you can be quite soothing indeed.
Many artists here are self-taught such as Slacsatu, one of the pioneers in the local graffiti scene, whose bright batik-theme and flower arts and graffities can be found in
Kampong Glam along Baghdad Street. Batik-theme is befitting of the heritage of Kampong Glam being zoned previously as Malay area. The former Sultan's Palace, now a Malay Heritage Centre is in
Kampong Glam.
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| Girl with the lion cub along Victoria Street |
Another self-taught local artist Yip Yew Chong brings local daily lives of yesteryears alive in heritage districts of Chinatown and
Kampong Glam. He also has quite extensive paintings at 51 Waterloo Street and at Tiong Bahru. You will be able to see some of his arts in other separate posts here, like the
satay scene and our previous beloved
national library.
You can also find his paintings on stones and rocks of
durians and mangosteens and other tropical fruits at Fort Siloso,
Sentosa Island. His themes are often nostalgic of the simpler years that had gone by, perhaps for the younger generation to appreciate what it was before the city becomes so modern.
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| Two children in pushcart along Victoria Street |
Present day Baghdad Street was previously known as Intan Street or Kampong Intan (Diamond Village) so you will see a huge wall painting of diamonds along Baghdad Street depicting the history of the area where there were many Banjaree diamond traders and jewellers in the area.
Kampong Glam has arguably the most extensive collection of streets arts in Singapore, so if you are looking for street paintings, Kampong Glam is probably the first go to place as the area is more compact.
Chinatown is not far behind, though the paintings are more wide-spread due to the size of the area.
Intan is a Malay word for gem. Along Victoria Street, just outside of Kampong Glam area, more towards Bugis, Bugis being also an ethnic Malay area in the 1800s, the Buginese originally came from Sulawesi, Indonesia, you cannot miss a huge wall art, Girl with Lion Cub. So within Kampong Glam, you will find many arts depicting the history as well as culture such as various paintings of batik art.
The lion cub could be a huge orange cat depending on how you look at it, and another painting complete with physical props, Two Children in Shopping Cart, are both painted by Ernest Zacharevic who is from Lithuania. So, Singapore wall murals indeed is home to many international street artists. Bugis Area now has an expanding collection of street arts.
The children in pushcart have a resemblance or similarity to Children on Bicycle mural in Georgetown, Penang, but then they are both painted by the same artist. Maybe his theme mainly involves children. It would be nice to see distinct paintings because people like to compare, but we are still quite young in the street arts scenes. Hopefully it will evolve in future, as I am certainly excited to see more!
Strangely many wall murals here have children as part of it. Especially at 51 Waterloo Street where there are a series of paintings such as children enjoying
ice ball or ice kacang as shown below or children in school library. And as we can see here a girl eagerly looking at
durian at
Chinatown. Well, who doesn't love
durian, Singapore's arguably most favourite fruit. There is also a painting by the same artist of children enjoying local
potong ice-cream, also at Chinatown. We all love
ice-kacang and
potong ice-cream in our tropical hot and humid climate.
Along Queen Street there are also some street paintings showing children enjoying field trips. Perhaps arts themes with children or nature element with butterflies, birds and flowers are less controversial in a city where you cannot chew gum.
Some paintings are also repeated. There is a huge wall painting of a man along Haji Lane at Singapura Club which is repeated in Little India, so it is no longer unique. Perhaps this club wants to standardise their logo. And there was once a really huge wall paintings at a park along Kandahar Street at
Kampong Glam, that depicted the story and tragedy of Wak Cantuk, a 19th century local legend, who lived at Jalan Intan (present-day Baghdad Street). 'Intan' is a Malay word for gem.
Unfortunately, these paintings have since been painted over, perhaps due the pictures of the rampage of unreciprocated love which some may find a bit disturbing. I managed to photo it before it was gone. There is a storyboard about the legend of Wak Cantuk under the 'diamonds and gems' wall murals at Baghdad Street.
At ethnic areas, many streets' arts depict the heritage or histories of the areas. Along Race Course Road in a narrow alleyway in
Little India you can see paintings of racehorses by local artist Jaxton Su. The paintings of racehorses can be easily missed unless you go looking for them as they are a bit obscured by a row of Indian restaurants. Many people go there for food, not arts.
There is a painting of colourful cattles and buffalos just behind Little India MRT Station Exit E, along Kerbau Road as shown below. Kerbau is a Malay word which means buffalo thus befitting the message perfectly. And along Belilios Lane also in Little India, you will be able to see huge wall arts depicting traditional Indian trades such as a dhobi washerwoman and a parrot astrologer. In today's context some of the paintings may not be too politically correct with its stereotyping of races, but perhaps it is an appreciation of the contributions of the earlier generation and the recognition of the harder life of yesteryears in Singapore. And arts tell histories.
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| Guns of Sentosa 3D painting at Fort Siloso |
At
Sentosa Island near Fort Siloso, you can find a series of 3D or three-dimensional paintings on walls or floors by Yip Yew Chong. They are scenes depicting what the old fort used to be, that is, fortifications, tunnels and armaments developed by the British in the 1890s and strengthened in the 1930s to guard the western entrance to Keppel Harbour and the valuable coal stocked there.
These 3D paintings complement the guns of Siloso that are scattered around Fort Siloso, as by 1942, the guns were participating in the battle for Singapore in what will be the
darkest days during World War II. The guns on display at Fort Siloso,
Sentosa Island, were either replicas or brought there.
So if you are looking for street arts to admire, you can go to
Kampong Glam,
Little India,
Chinatown, Tiong Bahru, Waterloo Street, Queens Street and Victoria Street. At Katong, a Peranakan enclave, there are also few wall murals depicting the history of the place such as paintings of colourful decorative tile that is characteristic feature within the Peranakan households.
The decorative tiles are painted by Nicia Lam, Yullis Lam, Novena Angela and Valerie Neo. There is a also a painting of a turtle along East Coast Road as it thought that the name Katong came from an extinct turtle. Boogie in the Dark shown here are also painted by Nicia Lam, Yullis Lam and Novena Angela, and can be found along a lane in-between shop-houses off Baghdad Street, just like the painting of of a huge Phoenix bird as shown below by Japanese tattoo artist Sei Nishiyama who brings his artistic talents from skin to walls. Interestingly Sei Nishiyama was born and raised in Singapore.
As wall murals are commissioned arts and belong to the respective buildings or shop-houses, some of the paintings shown here may no longer be available or have ben painted over such as those along Victoria Street. Along Haji Lane as well, the wall murals are evolving too. The painting of Singapura man has now been replaced by Ultraman!
Cattles and buffalos at Little India
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