Singaporean artist Shian captures the frenzy of toy queueing in mural
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The three-panel mural shows the developing narrative of people starting to queue for toys and those already clamouring for their finds.
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
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SINGAPORE – There is a familiar scene in one of the five murals spread across the construction hoarding in front of the National Museum of Singapore: people queueing for new toys.
Freelance illustrator Ng Yin Shian – better known as Shian – says the work is her take on the theme of play.
“The mural isn’t necessarily dealing with play directly, it’s more about the anticipation of play,” says the 32-year-old. “I had to think a lot about the socialisation aspect of it and the kind of hold toys have on people to make them participate in something that is quite chaotic and time-consuming.”
The brightly coloured artwork takes viewers on a narrative journey across three panels, starting with adults and children queueing from an upper entrance to the toy store at the ground level.
Some bored people are checking their watches or sitting on the stairs, while others are chatting excitedly to one another.
“This is my observation of how people queueing might be parents who are sticking it out for their child, which I find funny and sweet,” says the artist. “The last panel of the mural is a bit more chaotic. I had to capture the Singaporean kiasu (fear of losing) spirit, which is part of what I was trying to express.”
Three-dimensional red rope barriers pop out from the illustration, which also features people glued to their devices – part of the artist’s effort to include collectors who buy toys online.
While Shian never had the childhood experience of lining up for toys, as her parents were not interested, she does recall one Christmas memory. She says: “There was one year when my mum went out of her way to get me a doll I really wanted. It was a different time back then, where you had to put in effort to get the item you wanted.”
The artist’s resume includes a poster for American rock band Dave Matthews Band in 2023, the National Heritage Board’s interactive website for the SG Heritage Plan in 2022 and Asian Film Archive’s Retrospective: Wong Kar Wai in 2021.
She says: “This whole mural is really about nostalgia, because it’s not a scene that really happens anymore.”
