‘Art enables recognition of other cultures’

The creation 'Dancing in Unison was unveiled in Little India in Singapore

New Delhi: One of Singapore’s tallest murals – the recently-unveiled ‘Dancing in Unison’ – borrows from the iconic imagery of both India’s Gond art and Singapore’s contemporary art. It was created by Indian Gond artist Bhajju Shyam and Singaporean artist Sam Lo for Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and St+art India Foundation (St+art), the collaborative artwork in Little India, Singapore.

“The brief was to create a piece that’s healing, combining both our belief systems with a mindful approach. The whole process took place through multiple zoom calls, WhatsApp chats, and sketches back and forth through email. Collaborations like these open us up to the bigger picture, alternative views and shows us there’s more to life than what we are usually exposed to,” Sam Lo said.

Lo is a self-taught Singapore-based visual artist, who has painted a mural in Lodhi Art District and was part of the artsy makeover of Arjangarh metro station in New Delhi.

“The internet has made the world a lot smaller, and a lot more accessible. Regardless of a difference in cultures and languages, art gives us the ability to see and recognise and understand the other,” said Gond artist Bhajju Shyam.

He added that he had not seen Sam’s work before, but realised that both their works were housed in the Lodhi Art district where they also had birds as a primary element in their work.

Every feature in the work extends on this idea of the necessary dance between our urban living and nature. The tree, an iconic element from Gond art — engulfs the urban environment of human dwelling becomes a metaphor for the universe where everything is interconnected from the land to the air. Its branches host vibrantly coloured sparrows, an element which reoccurs in Sam’s work, as a symbol of freedom, being one of the most common birds in India and Singapore.

Sam’s deer, a revered animal in India serves as a tribute to Gond art, manifests the contemporary interconnection where elements from different cultures are seen blending together in our globalised and accessible world.