Every canvas paintings/sketches tell a unique and special story, from Yew Chong’s personal growing up years or from stories that was shared with him. Some of the canvas paintings had very touching and amazing stories that were shared personally by Yew Chong. You never know how art therapy combined with nostalgia artworks can help a person in opening up to others.  

I visited Stories from Yesteryear on 22nd February 2021, the last day of their exhibition at Substation. They would be heading to Sofitel Singapore City Centre next, starting on 26th February 2021 to 31st March 2021. 

There were a few paintings at this exhibition that touched my heartstrings more than others. I would vigorously deny that I am old or getting old, I am just middle-aged, alright? Some of the paintings that touched me more, Jalan Singapura 2, 1 and 4, Trengganu Street Market, Mid-Autumn Night and Kallang.   

I highly recommend you to visit Stories from Yesteryear by Yip Yew Chong, perfect for families with children. Grandparents and parents can bring their young children to go for an artistic journey back in time on the growing up years, what life in Singapore was like a few decades back. At the exhibition, do not rush from one painting to the other, read the short description on the side of the painting, observe the intricate details on the paintings. From here onwards, you would be able to discover and appreciate a lot more of Singapore in the older days and the transformations she went through to the modern cityscape of today. 

This was a wonderful and nostalgia visit to Stories from Yesteryear exhibition by Yip Yew Chong, it was also inspiring for my personal photography in the heritage and documentary genres, while I can’t paint as beautifully like our talented artist Yew Chong, cross interdisciplinary learning from other creatives would help me in photographing and capturing our existing heritage and culture in a modern cosmopolitan city.

I would like to say a big thank you to Belinda Tan for recommending me to visit Stories from Yesteryear and introducing me to the talented artist Yew Chong.    

Information on Stories from Yesteryear Exhibition

Dates: 26th February to 31st March 2021 

Location: Sofitel Singapore City Centre (L5 Etincelle) 

Address: 9 Wallich Street, Singapore 078885

Website: https://yipyc.com/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yipyewchong/ 

YouTube: Yew Chong Yip

The post Nostalgia and Beautiful Stories from Yesteryear by Yip Yew Chong appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.

The Old Dragon Playground has a good coverage locally and internationally, her “birth” and history was documented in Mosaic Memories, an e-book commissioned by the Singapore Memory Project. This particular Old Dragon Playground was designed by Mr Khor Ean Ghee, who was working in Housing and Development Board (HDB) in the 1970s, to create mini adventure lands in HDB housing estates. The playgrounds were to create spaces that could impress the younger generation at that time to a sense of Singapore identity. Although there were a number of different playground designs, the Dragon Playground was Mr Khor’s most successful attempt. Do check out Mosaic Memories e-book for a more in-depth write up of Mr Khor’s works, thoughts and feelings of the Old Playgrounds!

She definitely stood the test of time and great changes to Singapore’s society, she is still standing tall and proud today. While her surrounding HDB blocks were vacated and the authorities have future plans to redevelop the area around it, the Grand Old Dame, our Old Dragon Playground is going to continue staying around her current location and still be an iconic symbol, a mini adventure space, a heritage and cultural symbol to showcase our Singapore’s culture and community from her early days and into the future.

Whenever I revisited all the different Old Playgrounds, the feeling is always wonderful, I do miss those childhood days playing at all these old playgrounds. Many of the Old Playgrounds were gone and lost forever into our history, hopefully into books, photographs or into our beautiful memories inside our hearts. For those that still remains today in Singapore, shall we all spread a message to keep and preserve all of them? Let’s all Pass-It-On and Pay-It-Forward!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

The post Old Playgrounds: Toa Payoh Dragon Playground appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.