Han Sai Por: Sculptor turns Padang into forest at Light To Night fest
The Straits Times|January 09, 2025
A 9m-high installation on a patch of the Padang is the closest Singaporean sculptor Han Sai Por has got to her dream project, as the 81-year-old has always wished she could make a landscape work the size of a football field.
Clement Yong
Han Sai Por: Sculptor turns Padang into forest at Light To Night fest

The petite artist has spent her career punching – or rather hammering and chiselling – above her weight. The Cultural Medallion recipient's rugged hands bear the marks of her practice, which involves whipping tough materials like stone and granite into hefty works of public art that can weigh on the mind.

Despite a recent hospitalization from a lung infection, Han is still finding ways to chase scale. Her newest work, Travelling Through The Tropical Rainforest, was meant to be twice its current size if not for budget constraints. It nonetheless stands as her largest work.

"The Padang is quite a big space," she tells The Straits Times at the National Gallery Singapore. "I want people to walk underneath, around the sculpture and see the scale and volume like they are walking through a forest."

The six-piece installation is a centrepiece of the annual Light To Night festival, which runs from Jan 17 to Feb 6 as part of Singapore Art Week. In line with the 2025 theme of Do You See Me?, Han magnifies the minutiae of natural forms in a counterpoint to the geometric colonial edifice of the National Gallery Singapore.

Bu hikaye The Straits Times dergisinin January 09, 2025 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye The Straits Times dergisinin January 09, 2025 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

THE STRAITS TIMES DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
Victoria!
The Straits Times

Victoria!

Ein Hofwagen und seine bewegte Geschichte A Court Carriage and its Colourful History

time-read
2 dak  |
January 09, 2025
Disney's LinaBell Wins Hearts in China
The Straits Times

Disney's LinaBell Wins Hearts in China

Each week, whenever she has time off from her marketing job, Ms Ida Jia can be found at Shanghai Disneyland, queueing for hours to spend a few minutes with LinaBell, a fluffy pink fox character with big blue eyes.

time-read
2 dak  |
January 09, 2025
Missing actor found near Myanmar border
The Straits Times

Missing actor found near Myanmar border

A Chinese actor who went missing near Thailand's border with Myanmar has been found, the Thai authorities said, as they sought to contain the fallout of the incident on the nation's vital tourism industry.

time-read
2 dak  |
January 09, 2025
TV Networks Drop Smap's Masahiro Nakai Over Sex-Crime Allegations
The Straits Times

TV Networks Drop Smap's Masahiro Nakai Over Sex-Crime Allegations

Major TV networks have distanced themselves from one of Japan's biggest 1990s boy band stars, after media reports said he paid a woman a large settlement related to alleged sexual misconduct.

time-read
2 dak  |
January 09, 2025
Girls' Generation's Taeyeon to perform in Singapore
The Straits Times

Girls' Generation's Taeyeon to perform in Singapore

South Korean singer Taeyeon, a member of K-pop girl group Girls' Generation, has a new concert tour for 2025, which will make a stop in Singapore.

time-read
1 min  |
January 09, 2025
American Millionaire's Blueprint for Longevity
The Straits Times

American Millionaire's Blueprint for Longevity

Bryan Johnson, subject of the documentary Don't Die: The Man Who Wants To Live Forever, says Singaporean Chuando Tan's agelessness shows what biology is capable of

time-read
3 dak  |
January 09, 2025
The Substance director not surprised by Demi Moore's late-career comeback
The Straits Times

The Substance director not surprised by Demi Moore's late-career comeback

Demi Moore's Golden Globe Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy win for The Substance has, almost overnight, transformed the 1990s megastar into a seemingly unlikely favourite for the Oscars.

time-read
3 dak  |
January 09, 2025
Better Man and Count Of Monte Cristo are electrifying tales
The Straits Times

Better Man and Count Of Monte Cristo are electrifying tales

Britpop superstar Robbie Williams is a walking, talking, singing chimpanzee in an autobiography of his childhood through his three decades in the music industry, breaking away from the 1990s boy band Take That for solo success.

time-read
2 dak  |
January 09, 2025
TV adaptation honours Gabriel Garcia Marquez's magic
The Straits Times

TV adaptation honours Gabriel Garcia Marquez's magic

This first eight-episode season landed on Netflix in mid-December, with a puzzling lack of marketing.

time-read
3 dak  |
January 09, 2025
In Stranger Eyes, the voyeur becomes the viewed
The Straits Times

In Stranger Eyes, the voyeur becomes the viewed

Film-maker Yeo Siew Hua asks heavy questions with a light touch in the crime story

time-read
2 dak  |
January 09, 2025