Singapore, the Lion City (2015). 42 X 29.7 cm. Pen and colored pencil.
Singapore is a tropical island in South-east Asia. As the country name “Singapore” is an anglicisation of the native Malay name for the country “Singapura,” which was in turn derived from the Sanskrit word for ‘lion city,’ the Merlion (a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish) is the official mascot of Singapore. Aside from the cutting-edge infrastructure and economic prosperity, Singapore shines with a multiracial, multicultural, multireligious heritage made up of Chinese, Malay, Indian and various other ethnicities. After I firstly visited Singapore in 2015, I depicted the intense impression on “Singapore, the lion city.”