Singapore Street Art

One of the things I would often stop to admire in my travels is the street art and wall murals in various towns/cities around the world. In particular, I was so impressed with Rio de Janeiro's street art that I made a specific post about it. Of course, there are alot of others, like Valpairiso, Buenos Aires etc, that has wonderful street art culture.

Closer to home, Penang's Georgetown have its wall mural very well publicised here, thanks to its easy access from Singapore and the various media. In fact, Singapore also have the same street artist's art gracing our walls. But wouldn't it be better if we have our very own local artists' creations? Well, recently we do, thanks to the efforts of a Yip Yew Chong.

Yip Yew Chong is a self-taught artist who is actually in the accounting profession. On a career break, he started painting several wall murals that garnered plenty of attention and praise. The thing that set his murals apart is his theme - his murals all depict scenes of Singapore from a bygone era. It is no wonder that it struck a chord with many locals passing by who saw the artwork. I'm sure he had made many new friends while working on set. Many who particularly appreciated his work were of a certain age group (including me), and I had a good time reminiscing the "good old days" with him, discussing brands of milk cans and biscuit tins and details on grating coconut etc.

Of course, the murals can be appreciated by any as the quality of work is top notch, with many works showing an almost 3D nature in the appropriate light. His murals is currently being featured in the various local media and personally, I'm very proud that now, we have our own local street art, by our local artist, about our local culture. Tourists can now see some of old Singapore through these murals!

You can go to Yew Chong's website to find out the details on how to reach the various murals. Go check it out! (Check out his incredible travel map too!!)

Yip Yew Chong's website

Artist painting his latest mural

Tarabuco Sunday Market

Local markets are always an attraction for me in my travels, and in South America, the local Andean markets make wonderful photographic (and shopping) excursions since they're typically very lively and colourful.

Just 1-2 hrs away by bus from Sucre Bolivia, Tarabuco hosts such a market. Every Sunday, tourists and locals alike would converge into this small Bolivian town. Aside from the permanent shops in town, locals from nearby villages also arrive to set up stalls. The town is home to the Yampara culture, one of the ethnic groups around the region, and so designs belonging to the Yampara on textiles, handicrafts etc can be found aplenty in the market.

In fact, Yampara attire, and especially their headgear, are apparent everywhere, being worn and sold by the locals. While textiles, weavings and handicrafts dominate the market square, more mundane stuff can be found as you move further away from the square - food produce, safety pins, kettles etc, the daily livelihood of the community.

Besides getting photos of indigenous people in their traditional attire, the Sunday market is a great place to get your souvenirs as well! There is relatively little harassing on tourists, and if you're looking to get ponchos or similar textiles, the designs in the market are beautiful! And perhaps you may even get an authentic handwoven one from the village!