S'porean artist captures everyday life on mural in Tamil Nadu

When Singaporean artist Yip Yew Chong got a call asking him to go to a city in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu and adorn its walls with his colourful murals, he jumped at the chance.

- Vihanya Rakshika

Years ago, Mr Yip, 55, who is known for large murals depicting everyday life in places such as Tiong Bahru, Little India and Kampong Glam, went to Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh in north India for his honeymoon in 1995.

But he had never been to the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where many Indian Singaporeans trace their roots to.

He said: "The Coimbatore trip is my first to Tamil Nadu. Actually, I feel like finally, I get to see the ancestral place of many of my fellow Singaporean and Malaysian Tamil friends." Coimbatore is the second-largest city in Tamil Nadu.

During his 1/2 weeks in Coimbatore from the end of January, Mr Yip focused on painting a single mural on the walls of a residential building in a town called Ukkadam.

Measuring 15m by 14m, it features images of daily life, such as a drinks seller pouring tea and a woman making the rice and lentil pancake thosai. Mr Yip said he drew inspiration from what he saw around him.