S'pore artist Yip Yew Chong paints second public mural in India
"Kalai vanakkam."
This morning greeting is nothing out of the ordinary but people do a double take when it is uttered by local artist Yip Yew Chong.
But his familiarity with the Tamil language comes as no surprise.
The 55-year-old Singaporean Chinese, who painted his first public mural in 2015, has painted about 60 murals in Singapore and nearly 20 abroad, including in India.
The mural facing the Sri Mariamman Temple in Singapore's Chinatown depicts "mama shop" owner Abdul Qadeer, the neighbour who taught Yip how to say "good morning" in Tamil.
The artist told Tamil Murasu he is proud to convey the diversity of Singapore's multiculturalism through his art.
Yip painted a mural in Delhi in 2019 and was then invited by Start India Foundation to paint in Coimbatore. He spent nine days in January 2024 painting on the 18m-wide wall of a four-storey residential building.
“I chose the theme of food. I also drew the tea-bearer and the resident cat along with the dishes of dosa, tea and uthappam," said the artist who took his wife to India for honeymoon.
“The villagers who saw the mural said in English that it was super. I replied 'thank you, thank you' in Tamil."
Yip left a career in finance after 25 years to pursue painting full-time on the encouragement of his wife.
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