Let the art do the talking

Posted by Tym under Explore Singapore 2006, Explore Singapore!
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The Singapore Biennale may have just ended, but there’s no dearth of art to be found on the weekend, if you just know where to look — the Malay Heritage Centre, for instance, which on Saturday housed a one-day exhibition of student artwork, “Back To My Roots”. Check out what kids can do these days.

Okay, it wasn’t exactly done by a kid. The multimedia presentation “Enjet-enjet semut” was by Zulkifli bin Sabhani, a Temasek Polytechnic student, I believe, and it took a light-hearted look at the alleged differences (or not) between the Chinese and the Malays. Clearly the hit of the day, it was played so often during the exhibition that I still have the tune in my head two days later …

But it wasn’t all a song and dance affair. There were plenty of introspective pieces that took a softer, more abstract look at what it means to be Malay. Sure, there were floral patterns and kampong scenes, but there were also artworks that used typical motifs in new and surprising ways. You couldn’t miss the “culture plant”, for instance, or the meditative “teacup”, or a stylised (and stylish) “Bird of Desire”.

Seeing as two out of three of the above pieces were executed by primary school students, it’s not too much to say that they put my artistic skills to shame any day. And then there were the striking, if less literal, pieces that used colour and metaphor to full effect.

Where do kids get their ideas these days?

The artwork all resides with the Malay Heritage Centre now, which will figure out how to put it on display soon. Hopefully, that’ll be soon because fresh and energetic art like that shouldn’t be left to languish in a corner somewhere.

See my full Flickr: Explore Singapore!.

Tags: explore singapore, Malay Heritage Centre, National Heritage Board, Singapore, Back To My Roots, artwork, art