Singapore Writers Festival 2016

Singapore Writers Festival words culture

Art direction and illustration for the key visual, which was adapted into all festival collaterals and on-site dressing.
Many thanks to the client National Arts Council (Singapore), SWF team and Organisation of Illustrators Council (OIC) for this grand opportunity!

3x3 International Illustration Show No.14 - Distinguished Merit
Applied Arts 2017 Advertising Illustration - Winner
Communication Arts 58 Illustration - Finalist

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SINGAPORE WRITERS FESTIVAL 2016 - SAYANG

The 2016 Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) delves into the multi-faceted human condition with the theme, Sayang. A Malay word with multiple layers of meaning, it is used as a term of endearment, expressing effusive love and adoration. At the same time, it can also refer to pity and a bittersweet sense of lost opportunities.

The key visual evokes the multiple facets in which 'sayang' is familiar to us in our human relationships and daily life. It is present in our sense of desire for love and intimacy, captured by the central figure of a man and a woman, possibly lovers with their faces meeting in a kiss.

What we do with our hands and arms when we are with the ones we love belongs to the wordless language of 'sayang'. A long-married couple holding hands, or a friend's warm embrace at difficult times. The sandcastle in a palm is an image of the ephemeral, a reminder of how easily our dreams and idealisation of 'sayang' can be swept away.

The plate that is whole and beside it, a broken bowl, are images of fragile things, evoking the vulnerability of those who open themselves to love, the risks that lie in 'sayang'. The comfort of a blanket, the fragrance of lilies in full bloom - these evoke the pleasure, beauty and softness of 'sayang'. The solace readers find when engrossed in a book - that, too, is a moment of 'sayang'.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The Singapore Writers Festival is one of Asia's premier literary events held annually, bringing the world's major literary talents to Singaporeans and promoting new and emerging Singapore and Asian writing to a wider public.