SINGAPORE – Five promising artists were presented the Young Artist Award (YAA) by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong at a ceremony held at the Istana on Dec 5.
The award, introduced in 1992 and given to artists aged 35 and below, comes with a grant of $20,000 in support of their artistic pursuits.
The Straits Times speaks to the recipients to learn what receiving this prestigious award means to them.
Daryl Lim Wei Jie, 33
Who: Poet, translator, editor and literary critic. His second poetry collection, Anything But Human (2021), was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize, and he recently translated Wang Mun Kiat’s Short Tongue (2023).
Lim says: “On a psychological level, this feels like a form of acceptance by the arts establishment. Anything But Human (2021) is a big departure from my first book, A Book Of Changes (2016). The fact that this has been recognised is validation. It gives me the courage to go on and experiment. That, maybe, is the more important thing than actually what the money itself does.”
Julian Wong, 35
Who: Music director, musician and educator. He performed in and was the musical director for Wild Rice’s Don’t Call Him Mr Mari Kita (2022) and Faghag (2018).
Wong says: “I think it’s a vote of confidence and I am grateful to be acknowledged for the work I have been doing steadily over the past years. At the same time, I am not very comfortable with awards. I just think everybody is important and we shouldn’t put people on a pedestal. I often find that the people I work with behind the scenes, they are the real artists who are getting the show up and dealing with all our demands.”
Melissa Tan, 34
Who: Visual artist. She was the youngest artist to participate in the 2016 Singapore Biennale and has exhibited in London, Paris and Yogyakarta.
Tan says: “For me, looking at (Suchen Christine Lim and Meira Chand) win the Cultural Medallion makes me think, by looking at their practice, that they really have persevered quite a lot. I do get the stereotypes of ‘you are working with metal and your frame is so small’, but, of course, I think every gender has their own things to overcome. I just look forward to seeing more young women persevering through their artistic journey.”
Shyan Tan, 35
Who: Cinematographer – the first to be awarded the YAA. His short film Strawberry Cheesecake (2021) played at the Locarno Film Festival and he has worked with film-makers such as Royston Tan and K Rajagopal.
Tan says: “Because I really didn’t know that artists other than directors and producers can get this award, to get it really encourages me that even behind-the-scenes people get recognised. For me and my team, there is a jiao dai (“justification for what we do” in Chinese) – we are not just working so hard for nothing.”
Wang Chenwei, 35
Who: Composer and researcher of Chinese music. He is composer-in-residence with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and co-author of The Teng Guide To The Chinese Orchestra (2019).
Wang says: “I don’t do things for the sake of aiming for awards. Of course, along the way, when I receive awards, that is a strong affirmation that the community appreciates what I have been doing. It also encourages me to continue to uphold a high level of artistry in composition and to impart that to emerging musicians.”
