Global Students Prize

The young lady stands peacefully between two beautiful Sakura trees while looking down at the floor, covered with fallen petals, painting the ground a mesmerising pink colour. I sought to begin this painting after being inspired by a photo of my Japanese cousin before her wedding. I wanted to capture her feeling of contentment through the expression on her face with a gentle smile. In the “A Bride to Be”, I emphasised the level of details in the intricately hand-sewn flowers and cranes on the traditional kimono. The flowers around her all blossom and flourish, symbolising a birth of love.

I produced this painting as I was inspired by a very candid photograph that I took of my mum, with her eyes closed in almost hysterical laughter. Such moments of absolute joy are precious but fleeting. To be fortunate enough to capture them in a photograph is rare. So to then take the time to study and paint them, increase them in size and impact and allow the viewer to pause and really look at what the face is doing and how we read this, can give them a whole new meaning.

In this artwork, I used a bit of perspective to depict urban expansion. The blank central cross area represents the bustling streets of
the city, where neon signs interspersed among the buildings emit vibrant colors. The high saturation of colors throughout the piece expresses that light pollution is ubiquitous in the city.

A portrait painting of a fellow student Flick.

We, young people, try to express ourselves through our appearance, to express what we cannot put into words. My work represents our need to express ourselves in a world without prejudices where each one of us is different.

A rainy street in China with character ? (dao) on the floor which means Taoism. This painting represents balance through symmetry and religion, since in Taoism it is strived to be at balance with the universe.

This painting is a patchwork of different photos and styles that I curated over my fourth year (year 10) fine art course. My goal was to make the piece register as one whole image, rather than a collage, and integrate all these contradictory aspects into a single scene. Much like how vastly different people can come together in society, and function as a whole.

However, humans usually have an aversion to what they deem different from themselves, hence why we tend to be friends with kindred spirits, and why cliques form. However, this also breeds ostracisation and closedmindedness, as we shy away from exploring new aspects of identity that we cannot learn on our own.

Because of this, I wanted to depict this piece through the eyes of someone who feels uncomfortable around those they consider unfamiliar or atypical. Hence, I made the image very dark, used colours that clashed, and mixed my paint with black, to make the whole thing quite ugly. Despite the unpleasant imagery, nothing bad actually happens in the painting. These vastly different people seem to be getting along quite well, even helping each other and having fun: the perceived ugliness is all in the viewer’s head.

Thus, this painting is encouragement for the viewer to allow themselves to be more eccentric, and not fear eccentricity in others, so that this mismatched world won’t seem so ugly.

The painting ‘Olhar’ is an appropriation of the technique of the American painter and photographer Chuck Close. Maryam’s look says a lot… a look that should reflect dreams and happiness, now reflects uncertainty and dread… her childish shine is fading… and her childhood lost… War is a choice of those who will not fight in it

In my exploration of the cyclical abuse of women, I depict a young girl who sees a discarded woman, perceiving it as an omen of her future. In the artwork, the woman’s flesh is replaced with red velvet cake, symbolising how women are consumed.

This is a painting of my right hand with branches growing our of my finger tips. A number of colourful butterflies fly around the hand. The meaning behind the painting is that all living creatures depend on one another and ultimately affect each other. We are all connected and we are all in the same boat. Humans depend on trees for their oxygen and yet they still cut them. Deforestation has an adverse effect not only on the humanity, but also on all the other creatures that share the same planet.

Past/Present Tense explores how the urbanisation of Singapore has impacted our preservation of culture, and led to the loss of our “kampung spirit”. This realist work, inspired by other greats, aims to depict this in the most truthful light possible. It aims to create a sordid, cold and empty atmosphere, to have the viewer reflect on our loss of community brought about by modernisation.

A portrait of Picasso

We all experience at a certain point that life is not a fairytale. This point of realisation can be difficult to accept but it leads us to maturity, to be more careful and evaluate better our decisions.

The church’s facade is detailed with intricate patterns, highlighted by the play of light and shadow created with layered pastels. The stained glass windows reflect the sunset’s hues, casting colorful glimmers onto the stone walls. In the foreground, a winding path leads to the entrance, dotted with flowers rendered in bright, cheerful colors.

This is painted with oil on stretched canvas. This is a painting of my bathroom sink. I wanted to also represent one ‘sinking’, or ‘drowning’ as a way to illustrate the suffocating nature of society. The seeming normalcy of the bathroom juxtaposes against the erratic, metaphorical sinking of the person, and the increasingly rough brush strokes also seek to signify the feeling of agony and rush.

I took this image of my sisters eye by using a macro lens to allow myself to capture all the small detail within the human eye and how each person’s eye is unique to them.

In this very personal piece I wanted to use the idea of metaphors to create a painting that contained a very personal message. This piece contains many metaphors using objects such as a palm, candles, and the number six. Each item relates to a general metaphor or symbol that has been used in art historically but I have combined them in my own way to create my own narrative. A palm is a universal symbol of peace, Candles have historically been a depiction and metaphor for the passage of time, also within this composition there are six candles which relate to Pythagoreans “number symbolism”, Pythagoras believed each number was deeply significant to the understanding and making of the world. The number six was a corresponding symbol of beauty. Each item in this piece ( the hand, and six candles) comes together to create a much larger metaphor relating to my personal fear about the passage of time and the constant worry that time is running out. . My piece conveys the idea of coming to peace (the palm) with the passage of time, and accepting that growing up and becoming an adult is inevitable and actually, something to be embraced.

Portrait of the musician José Afonso