Have you seen this image circulating on WhatsApp?
Before you start pointing fingers at LTA for approving this art piece, the word “Jingapore” is actually a deliberate attempt by a local artist/photographer Jing Quek.
JINGapore is a series of art pieces which can be interpreted as Singapore through the eyes (or lens) of Jing Quek.
Some Singaporeans have criticised LTA for spelling Singapore accurately (refer to the photo below).
You can take a look at Jing’s work here:
Here’s the artist account:
Welcome to Jingapore!
It was brought to my attention that some people raised a fuss about the title of my artwork.
I want to state clearly first that the naming was intentional, and in the great tradition of Chinese and English linguistics, it’s call a Pun. So relax, don’t get too outraged.In my artistic life, I having proudly waved the Singapore flag showcasing images of everyday Singaporeans in competitions, advertising campaigns and exhibitions all over the world, from Jakarta to France, from USA, to Italy, to Japan.
Out of all these, the Art in Transit program has been the highest honour and the number 1 dream in my artistic career bucket list.
I had the privilege of photographing nearly 500 Tampines residents over a year, and these people contributed their time and energy for my work.
This collaboration between the local community was made possible through the hard work of LTA, who made the effort to engage the communities surrounding each train station.
In life, we have choices. The internet gives us an easy outlet to express ourselves behind a keyboard.
We can choose to be upset and burn with anger at all the perceived wrongs against us, and lash out and find fault in everything, even in obvious puns.
Or we can choose to appreciate life’s small blessings and joys, and also the things that our government agencies do to make life a little bit sweeter for all of us.
I’ve been very blessed to have been able to capture the smiles of hundreds of Tampines residents, and I want to share this with all my fellow Singaporeans.
I would like to invite everyone to take the opportunity to hop on a train, spend a day just discovering all the wonderful art scattered around each station. It’s an excuse to bring the children out, pak tor with your girlfriend, or to check out that food place you heard about at the other end of Singapore.
To those that feel anger at the naming of the artwork, I understand that you may feel unhappy with the recent issues related to our transport system.
I hope you can understand that LTA is a huge organisation with many different divisions. But it’s filled with people who are putting their hearts and souls into making Singapore run smoothly. (Also, this team is totally unrelated to SMRT lah. Want to get angry must also direct anger at the correct department.)
LTA’s Art in Transit program is one of the most ambitious and fulfilling project that I have ever worked on.It’s been a privilege working with the dedicated LTA team that made this project a reality.
With the entire Art in Transit program, Singapore now has a massive cultural project that captures contemporary Singapore culture through art made by Singaporeans, for Singaporeans.
Jingapore is my artistic vision of Singapore, where all of us are super stars, super models, immortalised on billboards, filled with positivity and optimism, striving hard to achieve our dreams.
Welcome to Jingapore!
P.S- it’s 风景的”景“-apore
If you’d like to contribute your story to us, drop us an email at editors@sureboh.sg and we’ll review it. We read each submission that comes to us within two weeks of receiving it.
