Singapore Tomorrow - Augustman
Augustman Logo
Style
Culture
Gear
Food & Drink
Travel
Wellness
AM Select
E-Magazine
Most Trending
Singapore Tomorrow
Most Recent
Singapore Tomorrow
Most Trending
Gucci Melds Their House Code with Balenciaga’s For Their Centennial
Most Recent
Team Effort: Cool Brand Collaborations In Fashion And Retail
  • Fashion
  • Watches
  • Grooming
Most Trending
Live The High Life At These Most Extravagant Penthouses
Most Recent
Life in Edo | Russel Wong in Kyoto Exhibition Explores Japanese Culture And Craftsmanship
  • Design
  • Events
  • Art
  • Music
  • Film & TV
Most Trending
Modernity Meets Sustainability With Ante’s New Tech-cessories
Most Recent
BMW 4 Series Convertible Ushers In A New Era For Open Top Motoring
  • Tech
  • Motoring
Most Trending
Pretty Sweet: Dolce & Gabbana And Fiasconaro Are Celebrating Italian Confectionery
Most Recent
Lost Distillery: Rare Brora Whiskies Are Going Under The Hammer
  • Dining
  • Drinks
Most Trending
Check Out These Lavish European Castles Available For Rent
Most Recent
Are “Health Passports” The Key To Restarting Global Travel?
  • Travel Guides
  • Hotels & Resorts
Most Trending
These Famous Athletes Also Run Successful Lifestyle Brands
Most Recent
Can’t Sleep? Try These Effective White Noise Devices
  • Fitness
  • Health
Most Trending
Technopreneur Ryan Chew On Using Blockchain To Solve Global Issues
Most Recent
A Tribute To Britain’s Prince Philip. The A To Z Of The Duke Of Edinburgh
  • Men of the Year
  • MVMT
  • August Mentors
  • A-Listers
  • Hit List
  • sg
    • MY
    • SG
  • Search
Singapore Tomorrow
Sort & Filter
Close Filter
Sort By
Date
Relevance
Filter By Category
All Categories
All
Style
Culture
Gear
Food & Drink
Travel
Wellness
AM Select
Apply
Filter By Location
singapore
All Countries
Culture
Life in Edo | Russel Wong in Kyoto Exhibition Explores Japanese Culture And Craftsmanship
Culture
Live The High Life At These Most Extravagant Penthouses
Culture
Dave Grohl Of The Foo Fighters Is Releasing A Memoir
Augustman Logo
sg
Singapore Tomorrow
Back
All  Style
  • Fashion
  • Watches
  • Grooming
Back
All  Culture
  • Design
  • Events
  • Art
  • Music
  • Film & TV
Back
All  Gear
  • Tech
  • Motoring
Back
All  Food & Drink
  • Dining
  • Drinks
Back
All  Travel
  • Travel Guides
  • Hotels & Resorts
Back
All  Wellness
  • Fitness
  • Health
Back
All  AM Select
  • Men of the Year
  • MVMT
  • August Mentors
  • A-Listers
  • Hit List
E-Magazine
  • Malaysia
  • Singapore
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Sort & Filter
Close Filter
Sort By
Date
Relevance
Filter By Category
All Categories
All
Style
Culture
Gear
Food & Drink
Travel
Wellness
AM Select
Apply
Filter By Location
singapore
All Countries
Culture

Singapore Tomorrow

Hannah Choo
11 Aug 2017
Article Hero Image
Trending Now
Team Effort: Cool Brand Collaborations In Fashion And Retail
StyleRead More
BMW 4 Series Convertible Ushers In A New Era For Open Top Motoring
GearRead More
Gucci Melds Their House Code with Balenciaga’s For Their Centennial
StyleRead More
Longchamp X EU “Been A Champ” Collection Brings Out The Champ In You
StyleRead More
Here's your ticket to incisive commentary and insights from the celebrity sphere. Sign up for our newsletter.

Dan Wong, 34

The Good Citizen

“If something is wrong with Singapore, I will get up from my grave to set things right,” Lee Kuan Yew had said before he died, a tongue-in-cheek expression of his commitment to the country, no doubt. But Dan Wong is imagining how this might look. Wong, who founded The Good Citizen Movement in 2012, isn’t afraid to tread on eggshells, be it politics, religion or gender issues (he began his career by drawing phalluses in toilets after all). This image of our first Prime Minister coming back as MechaLee with cyborg technology depicts all his quirks, including a large canister of beer, and a ba gua symbol ironed to his chest, a paradox to his empirical method of thought. Irreverent perhaps, but Wong wants to explore how he could plausibly return using today’s tech innovations. “I’m picturing how it might be when he comes back from his grave to whip Singapore back into shape.”

Wu Yanrong, 26

Petitioner For The Arts

Wu Yanrong loves Singapore. But the first thing she would change about this country, had she the power to do so, is our education system. “You may run a country like a business, to be efficient and effective, but even a business needs to recognise our humanity, particularly the need for our young people to develop their ideas and talents freely,” Wu believes. “We should remember that people who aren’t that great with books have important things to contribute too,” she reminds. While book learning has produced a population that has helped Singapore climb from a third- to first-world country in its 52 years of independence, Wu feels we have arrived at a time when it is vital to develop our collective soul as a nation. Her dream is for Singapore’s artistic achievements to be celebrated on par with all the rest so that Singaporeans can feel proud of their culture and identity.

Andre Wee, 28

The In-Between

Andre Wee feels a little ambivalent about his identity sometimes. Now that he has spent six years in America, studying fine arts at the Rhode Island School of Design and freelancing as an illustrator and 3D artist, and naturally having adjusted to that environment, people here sometimes wonder if he’s Singaporean. “That itself, is an identity, I suppose,” Wee quips. He finds himself relating to a particular side of Singapore. “Like me, it’s trying to find its voice,” he says. His artwork for AUGUSTMAN attempts to capture this sentiment. “It is always about the people, and the variety of people as well,” he quips. “We are still very reserved about who we are because we are too bothered about what others think. As far as that’s concerned, people will get more vocal. At least I’d like to think so. Everyone should be entitled to their own opinion, but we should also be responsible for what we say.”

Xinnie Ng, 29

Potential NMP

If you think Xinnie Ng’s piece resembles something by French graphic artist Jean Jullien, it only goes to show that when you pare things down to their simplest form and look at them with honest eyes, you will arrive at the universal language of humour. Here Ng has drawn herself as a child peering out the window at the metropolitan bubble that is our CBD. “As the future comes, I’ll probably only feel at home in the heartlands,” Ng reckons. “The sense of being a foreigner in my own country gets stronger all the time.” She points to the recent closure of the Sungei Road Thieves’ Market. “Did they even consider how people feel about this old fixture of our country? Granted, we should do what’s best for us for reasons of progress, but change can also alienate. The government has been asking its people to be more gracious and considerate, but are they setting an example? I love Singapore, but right now, I feel like I am pushed around by a system that doesn’t love me back.”

Lee Xin Li, 29

The Rationalist

Architect by day and an independent illustrator by night, Xin Li has tackled just about everything that surrounds him – food, architecture, heritage and culture. The above was based on a project shared with a fellow artist depicting Singapore 50 years from now. “The world is only going to get smaller, and so will this little red dot,” he laments. “The more connected we get, the more layers there will be for so many things to get lost within. Paris can be seen from Bishan, it will be harder to differentiate the fake from real, and social media is going to cause even more trouble.” This explains his disdain for Facebook. But as hasty as Singapore is to grab the future, he is aware that we cannot afford to move slowly. “Due to uncertainty, we have to be adaptable and we need to move fast,” he continues. “At the same time, we have to set a balance and be sensible when it comes to change.”

Troy Chin, 39

The Resident Tourist

He calls himself The Resident Tourist, also the title of a funny and cynical comic book that chronicles his life since his return from being a label executive in New York. “I have a very New Yorker perspective because I’ve lived there for so long,” says Troy Chin. “I think I’m pretty much a true blue Singaporean. I appreciate all things good here.” One big difference: he doesn’t use a smartphone. “I get to economise my time very well. I can’t just meet people on a whim, and neither can they cancel on me at the last minute,” he continues. It’s hard to imagine anyone functioning without a phone these days but it works for Chin. He admits he may have to concede to using one soon. “We are going to have very nice things like video walls, but we’re also going to come up with some sort of fire chip for the phone where everything can be done using your fingerprint, eyeballs or whatever.”

This story was published in the August 2017 issue. Catch some of the artists in action this weekend at the Illustration Arts Fest.

Credit: Main picture by Keely O’Shannessy

art
singapore
Hannah Choo
Talk to Me About:

Up Next For You

Classic Books That Will Take Travel-Starved Readers Around The World
Manas Sen Gupta
Culture
What You Need To Know About Museum Of Ice Cream Singapore
Richard Augustin
Culture
Yung Raja Is Rapping His Way To The Top Of Hip-Hop
Richard Augustin
Culture
The Lego NASA Space Shuttle Set Is Just What Space Exploration Fans Wanted
Richard Augustin
Culture
Here's your ticket to incisive commentary and insights from the celebrity sphere. Sign up for our newsletter.
×
Where are you?
Tell us so we can display what you want to see.
  • Malaysia
  • Singapore
Malaysia Singapore
Advertise About Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions
© 2021 Copyright Augustman