Shayne Phua
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What appears to be a sculptural tableau gracing the cover of a container is, in actuality, a small fountain, one of several in the present exhibition. The scene, a gory diorama in the style of those found at Haw Par Villa – one of Singapore’s best-known cultural curiosities – features a terrain of rivers and bridges. The bridges are fashioned in the shape of broken bones, referring to the story of a healed femur bone as the originary moment of human civilization. (Refer to the text for Your worthiness comes from your brokenness.) These bridges are burning, alluding to the violence and exploitation that lie at the heart of so-called civilization, whether practised by expanding ancient empires or resource-hungry colonial powers; the rivers run red with blood. The value of care that is central to the narrative of the healed femur is belied by the artist’s scepticism about the foundations of human society.
Exhibitions
ART SG 2025, presented by Yeo Workshop, 17 – 19 January 2025, Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore.A roast of Asian nine tails topped with broken femur and bile, accompanied by more curious ingredients, 20 July – 1 September 2024, Yeo Workshop, Singapore