It’s become almost a given for us to expect a quirky, locally themed photo series from Singaporean photographer Jayden Tan, every National Day. He first raised eyebrows (and smirks) with his “Char Bor” photo series in 2016 that featured portraits of a woman wearing everyday items as couture headpieces; then again in 2017’s second edition, themed around local food and starring singer Inch Chua. It’s 2018, and we’re a little late given that it’s the second last week of August—but Tan has made it worth the wait.
His 2018 series is titled “The Majulahs”, and instead of featuring one model in various costumes, he brings together a ragtag of six local personalities to form the Singaporean squad you never knew you revered. The series was created to celebrate and correctly represent the average Singaporean, after a “crazy Asian force has misrepresented Singapore’s rich culture and heritage with untruths, extravagant twists and a warped idea of the everyday Singaporean”.
The unlikely justice league comprises a McDonald’s garlic sauce-adorned Sauce Girl, a hen-pecked Parking Pontianak, a foul-mouthed relative to the Merlion called The Profanity, a “politically correct, multicultural CMIO” deity called R.Harmony, a Milo van driver-turned-superhero named Milo Marvel, and perhaps the most iconic of them all: Joanna Dong as a tissue packet-plastered heroine called Lady Chope, who “ensures nobody is left without a table during lunch”. Like all reliable superheroes, they will assemble when summoned—at S11 kopitiams, void decks and carparks.
The intricate styling was done by local fashion stylist Josiah Chua, who also spearheaded the wardrobe for Tan’s 2017 series with Inch Chua. Chua said each look took around five to six hours to prepare, with Sauce Girl taking the longest. “We had to actually eat McDonald’s to get those chilli packets, and it’s a lot to accumulate; I think we’re gonna stop McDonald’s for a bit,” he said. Milo Marvel and Lady Chope were next in line for most time-consuming costumes, due to the multiple layering of materials for each costume—milo powder (on the model’s body) and tissue paper packets respectively. The comic book illustrations were done by Lee Sin Yee, Art Director at social media agency GOODSTUPH.
Now that’s the kind of celebration of heritage we can appreciate.
View the full series below:
The Majulahs
Sauce Girl
Milo Marvel
The Profanity
Parking Pontianak
R. Harmony
Lady Chope
