The House of Art

Temu House will celebrate its second anniversary this month, and Augustman speaks to Sharmin Parameswaran, the art curator behind the many exhibitions held there

- ALISON LOH

THE FIRST TIME I’ve ever heard about Temu House was through a friend. It was only a brief mention and yet the name stuck in my mind. Upon further investigation, I learned that this house on a hill is owned by Lilian Tay, an architect who decided to deconstruct the house and make way for a new, potential space for exhibitions and events.

Despite constantly hearing about this mysterious yet magical venue, I’ve never paid it a visit. Until most recently, when I managed to secure a private interview session with Sharmin Parameswaran, an independent art curator who has been hosting art programmes at Temu House since its inception.

As the lady of the house, Sharmin has hosted around 40 exhibitions in the art space. Through her experience and with the help from Tay and Lina Tan – a curator for events – Temu House now thrives and gathers people who share a common love for art and connection.

How did you get into the art space?

I grew up around the art scene because my father was an art collector. I didn’t tap into art until 2012, when a friend of mine asked me why I wasn’t in the visual arts scene. That moved me to take a leap of faith by opening my first exhibition in that same year. I like contemporary works, so I did an exhibition called At First Glance at the WhiteBox in Publika. And at that time, my main objective was to sell.

Since then, I started doing more exhibitions. But I soon realised that there’s more to art than just selling. Hence, I decided to meet more artists and work with them. The process of putting an exhibition together and creating a space for art eventually made me fall in love with this line of work.