Transits for Art: Exploring the art of Singapore's MRT stations

Having been fully gratified from writing the blog on my experience on the sculpture trail at the Botanic Gardens, where I explored the rich connection between Art and Nature, I thought that 2024 should be the year when I explored the equally rich links between Art, Society, Culture and Industry in Singapore. And just as I was fortunate to stumble upon the well-curated trail at the Gardens, another programme, this time by the folks at Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), called Art in Transit, formed the basis of my exploration.

It all started on the Hari Raya holiday in the month of April. when I accompanied Audrey and Ethan to the King Albert Park (KAP) MRT Station. They were going to Bugis to study with their friends, while I was headed to the Botanic Gardens. Since both MRT stations were on the Downtown Line and we were travelling in the same Eastward direction, we went off together to KAP, our common starting point. It was just one stop down from the Cascadia, our home along Bukit Timah Road. At KAP, Audrey pointed out to me the presence of little `monsters', scattered amongst the building structures on the train platform. These were actually statues of plant forms created on paper and translated to sculpture form by a group of Singaporean artists, as part of the Art in Transit programme. What was more intriguing, as I found out later upon browsing the website, was the prevalence of such artwork elsewhere along the Downtown Line. Thus, my exploration began. Over the course of the next few months, I made many transits on the MRT for the sake of art- these were Transits for Art!

April 10, 2024: KAP's little plant monsters

To begin with, members of the art group made detailed notes of the interesting flora found in Dairy Farm Nature Park, and pages of these plant-part decorated artistic impressions line the railing wall of the overhead bridge at KAP MRT station. The artistic team had then engaged their creative juices to translate the plant structures to blueprints of sculptures, based on the actual information (with some artistic license!). For example, the simpuh air's large leaves are often used to wrap tempe (dry soybean fermentate), thus its mythological counterpart is a cute infant-like creature coddled in leaf! The heart-shaped leaves of the colodium bicolor has led to its moniker of `angel's wings', leading to the interpretation as another cute juvenile-looking creature, this time with wings. These KAP monsters might be mythological creatures, but they were formulated using interesting facts that the artists had gathered through their research.

April 19, 2024: Commuting in Joy

Nanyang Girls High School was founded in 1917 and was originally located in a shophouse at Dhoby Ghaut, but is now a grand, impressive building, located just across the road from Sixth Avenue MRT Station. While the artwork at Sixth Avenue Station had been contributed by only two students of the school, it spoke volumes about the talent that abounded at NYGH. The first drawing, that of a schoolgirl indulging in a myriad of activities inside the MRT train, taught me how one could fill a daily two and a half-hour commute with Joy! I sometimes wrongly fall into the impression that students donning headphones or intent on their smart phones on the MRT are just indulging in activities of little value. This was debunked by the manga-style artwork of Liu Nell Mini. The second, I would say, was a work of art as well as a work of literature! To me, Bao Qiqi's description of her experience of riding the MRT came out like poetry: `Falling in tandem with the flurried stream of passengers; unwinding to my favourite piece of music; feeling lightweight and airy as the train whizzes off to its next destination.'

And of course, the third piece of artwork, that may go unnoticed, was the school's logo, logo-drawing being an art form in its own right. NYGH's school logo takes the form of a diamond-shape motif, superimposed on the top of yellow ring emblem with the words Nanyang Girls High School, originally designed by NTGH art teacher, Chen Jun Wen.

May 5, 2024: Napier, Stevens and Upper Thomson

June 15, 2024: Rochor

In the middle of June, 2024, I found myself savouring a delicious bowl of laksa at a food centre at Jalan Berseh, about a 15 min walk away from Lavender MRT station. This wasn't just any laksa, but the famous Sungei Road Laksa, that had originally been peddled at the equally famous but now closed down Sungei Road Thieves Market. The latter, also known as the Sungei Road Flea Market, had its beginnings as a small trading area beside the river in the 1930s. The `Thieves' moniker probably arose due to the market's reputation as a place to buy stolen goods!

After my hearty meal, I had a nice walk down the Rochor Canal park connector to Rochor MRT. Despite the air being slightly thick due to an earlier downpour, the riverside atmosphere was still a tranquil and refreshing one. I rested briefly at a bench there to enjoy my lemonade and the scenic river scene. Along the way, I encountered pockets of migrant workers and individuals who were sprawled or crosslegged, having a nap or enjoying their packed lunch. (I enjoyed the scent of their curry wafting in my direction!) 

Arriving at Rochor MRT, I drew the link between my lunch and noon-time walk with the Art in Transit programme, and my own Transits for Art initiative. The outer walls of the elevator shaft within the MRT station, with a green background, had been decorated with objects that could be gotten from the Thieves Market of old. Old Singer sewing machines, thermos flasks, kerosene lamps, Chinese playing cards, and lots of other items were imprinted in a fashion to convey the impression of a motherboard. This creation was the masterpiece of students from the nearby LaSalle College of Arts. I had gone there once to hear Audrey recite her poetry creations. I reflected how food, art and commerce had intersected at this place and made for an interesting Transit for me that morning.