All Lines Flow Out was started because of my curiosity about how waterways functioned within Singapore. I have always observed and been fascinated by people having activities in the longkangs.
I have always wondered why the government romanticizes a canal into a river. Why must they blind us from seeing a longkang for what it actually is? It’s not like we have a great mountain as our chief water source.
My fondest childhood memories are based on growing up in Kampong Mata Ikan, Changi. I remember my grandmother making white paint from seashells. The entire process was quite cool but the paint flaked off easily.
I didn’t like the experience of studying in a boarding school in Surrey because it wasn’t nice at all to be constantly reminded that you are a Chinese.
You don’t even need to be insulted to feel the difference.
Through that experience, I learnt how minorities feel in Singapore and also about the physical and psychological differences that society foists on us.
Personal heroes tend to disappoint me.
What I discovered in Venice was that everyone, including established names, is struggling with their craft and it’s really important to learn how to enjoy our struggles.
Art directing for a film is the most miserable experience because you don’t stop working. Even the camera crew has more breaks than me.
In Singapore, most art spaces have a bad flow which prevents you from fully enjoying and discovering a work.
Another problem in the local art scene is the glut of group shows with flimsy themes and artists told to create work that fits in.
When Li Lin and I started working together in 2010, we were afraid that it would be a strain on our marriage, but we eventually realized that it’s important to work with someone you trust.
I was taking photographs of big yachts to supplement my income, when China’s America Cup organizers asked me if I was keen to take part in the trials to make the team.
Don’t believe the hype, the human imagination is limited.
Sailing for China in the America’s Cup was a way of exorcising the bad feelings and fears about the sport which I harboured.
Sports brings fleeting happiness and is reflective about the madness of life but art has the power to freeze a moment and allows you to be contemplative.
Very early in my life, I made up my mind to be an atheist.
I have alektorophobia because I was attacked by a chicken when I was a kid. In fact, I am more afraid of the feathers on the rotan than the actual caning. I don’t eat chicken and even chicken shaped mock meat gets me all nervy.
