PRE-CONCERT EATS: SING SWEE KEE @ FUNAN MALL

This one is just next door to Qiji and Basement Two of Funan Mall. And I had missed it for the longest time. Attribute that to tunnel vision. Anyway, we decided on Hainanese chicken rice just before our next walk in Singapore's civic district for the Singapore Night Festival. And we were not disappointed.

There are so many chicken rice shops in Singapore named Swee Kee (just like there are so many Sin Kees) that it is confusing. The original Swee Kee was on Middle Road but that closed for good in 1997. Then the other Swee Kees sprouted around town, including Sing Swee Kee which has its HQ on Seah Street. This branch in Funan Centre is part of a coffee shop, and the chicken rice is as good as it gets. 

We opted for a plate each of white chicken and roasted chicken. The set (for $2 more) included vegetables, boiled egg and a cup of coffee or tea, which made it a rather good deal at $8. Throw in a bowl of dumplings in soup, and our meal was complete. Don't forget the sauce station, which is crucial for the success of chicken rice. This has chilli, crushed ginger (very good), thick black sauce and free flow of soup. Very recommendable.

SING SWEE KEE CHICKEN RICE

107 North Bridge Road

Funan Mall #B2-11

Sing Swee Kee

I STILL DON'T GET MODERN ART: JIWA / SOUL BY FITRI YA'AKOB @ LIM HAK TAI GALLERY, NAFA

Visiting Objectifs always means a visit to Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts' Lim Hak Tai Gallery literally next door. The present installment features the debut solo exhibition of young Singaporean visual artist Fitri Ya'akob, who is a photographer, film maker and sculptor. This exhibition has all three aspects of her work.

Jiwa is the Malay word for soul, as in the P.Ramlee hit song Getaran Jiwa which literally means "vibrations of the soul". In Jiwa, Fitri relates her closeness to the sea, seafarers (the orang laut), marine life (dead or alive) and islands, and the countryside which would soon be lost to time. One can easily identify with a more leisurely lifestyle from a simpler time, something which she seeks to relive with time.

Then there is the inevitable word salads, like "a world largely fabricated by different types of rules and regulations", "our senses tend to dull from the force to act and even think", "other senses appear to play a lesser role in how we encounter the life-world, to use a Heideggerian term". Did she even write this?

Never mind, there is still some solace and wisdoms that can be gained walking through this. Her photographs feel genuine and authentic, ultimately timeless. The sculptures are organic, an attempt to bring back to life lifeforms that have been lost. Art like this makes us ponder and think, and I guess that's what it's about.

Once alive, now dead, possibly extinct.

Under the sea

JIWA / SOUL BY FITRI YA'AKOB

Lim Hak Tai Gallery

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

Middle Road 

Jiwa/Soul: Fitri Ya'akob | NAFA

I JUST DON'T GET MODERN ART: ENTANGLEMENTS @ OBJECTIFS LOWER GALLERY

Modern art still confounds me. What is it all about? Why do things appear the way they do? What is the purpose of it all? Entanglements, curated by Huijun Lu, brings together the art of five visual artists in the small space that is Objectifs Lower Gallery. Used to seeing bursts of colour and stunning visuals, this exhibition is stark and minimalist.

"Entanglements stems from the belief that nature and technology are not discrete entities, but rather deeply entwined." Not my words, but the artists' description. It goes on to state technology dominates our natural environment, through rapid processes of extraction and destruction. Yet, these tools can aid restoring connections, appreciating slowness and understanding environmental complexity. OK, I give up.

Humpty Dumpty should have
been here to see this.

Modern art just cannot do without
naked bodies (preferably female).

Really this could not be further sharpened.
Now I get the egg part.

So these five artists examine plant systems, human bodies, synthetic materials and sensorial technologies. With natural and man-made systems coming together as collaborators and co-conspirators. Why do they write like this?

More eggs.
What is this supposed to symbolise?

Now its egg crates.

What we really need now are termites.
They make good art too.

ENTANGLEMENTS

Objectifs Lower Gallery, Middle Road

entanglements - Objectifs

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION: TAN LIP SENG: A LIFE IN COLOUR @ OBJECTIFS CHAPEL / Part 1

Coming to Objectifs - Centre for Photography & Film can be an absorbing habit indeed. If you are anywhere in the Middle Road precinct, a visit to Objectifs is a must. Stumbling onto whatever is on show is part of the discovery. On this occasion, Objectifs Chapel Gallery is home to a lively exhibition of photographs by 1985 Cultural Medallion recipient Tan Lip Seng (1942-2025).

Tan Lip Seng: A Life In Colour is a retrospective, a celebration of his keen eye, patience and work in the darkroom. Those were the days before digital photography, when individual films had to be painstakingly developed and mistakes could just ruin pictures.

I was pleased to learn that Mr Tan had been a medical photographer employed by the University of Singapore's Faculty of Medicine. Joining in 1966, he stayed for over four decades and his work involved photographing people with diseases, pathological organs, dissected specimens as well as cadavers, all for the sake of medical and scientific research and documentation. 

The contrast of colours, between light and shade, is fascinating, and favourite subjects seem to have included landscapes with natural bodies of water (reservoirs in particular) and ordinary people at work. Here is a selection of some of his best work. 

People at work:

The Singapore General Hospital laundry
during the 1960s.

This exhibition runs till 27 September 2026.

Check out Part 2 here:

pianomania: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION: TAN LIP SENG: A LIFE IN COLOUR @ OBJECTIFS CHAPEL / Part 2

Tan Lip Seng: A Life in Colour - Objectifs