In commemoration of Singapore’s 50th birthday this August, The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore and students from Nanyang Girls’ High School’s Art Elective Programme (AEP), will embark on an inaugural art collaboration to mark this significant event. This showcase is part of the hotel’s ongoing project “Refreshing Our Palette”, which chronicles the different transformation phases of its signature restaurants through a series of ‘live’ art installations. From July 13-19, 2.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. daily, AEP students and artist, Ly Yeow who is an alumna of the AEP, will paint a wall mural ‘live’ in the hotel lobby, showcasing a montage of scenes from old Singapore, evoking fond memories of a bygone era.
Titled “Home”, this monochromatic art piece that will be painted on wood, is a fitting tribute to Singapore’s rich colonial heritage. The mural will depict a collage of common streets scenes from the past such as Malay street vendors selling ‘satay’ and ‘teh tarik’, Chinese hawkers selling ‘ice kachang’ on a pushcart, as well as samsui women in their trademark red cloth hats and coolies working laboriously. The old-world charm of shophouses, commonly used as living quarters for immigrants in the late 18th Century to early 19th Century, provides the back drop of this mural. The art piece thematically alludes to the variety of colonial cuisines such as Chinese, Indian, Western and Peranakan, that will be showcased at the new all-day dining restaurant when it reopens in early September, and will be on display in the hotel lobby until August 10, as a lead up to Singapore’s milestone 50th birthday on August 9.
“The school’s Art Elective Programme (AEP) is very honored to be given the opportunity to collaborate with The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore on their ‘Refreshing Our Palette’ transformation art project, and give back to the community through art. This partnership has been a process of discovery and learning for our AEP students as they had to revisit Singapore’s history in order to draw inspiration for the art piece. We are also very heartened to have Ly Yeow, an alumna who is now an artist herself, mentor the students on this project”, said Heng Boey Hong, Principal of Nanyang Girls’ High School.