SINGAPORE - Five resident cats - Oreo, Ginger, Sneaky, Truffles and Tam - regularly greet visitors to the Malay Heritage Centre.
Starting Wednesday (March 10) and until May 30, visitors will also come across 30 cat standees and 10 educational ones showcasing common Malay proverbs as part of the centre's latest installation, Paw-verbs on the Lawn.
The standees on the proverbs highlight how cats are used in Malay literary culture to convey different aspects of human behaviour and impart age-old lessons.
Some of these proverbs include seperti anjing dengan kucing (like a dog with a cat) to reference two people who always quarrel, or malu-malu kucing (like a shy cat) to describe someone pretending to be shy.
At the launch of the installation on Wednesday, Mr Alvin Tan, deputy chief executive of policy and community at the National Heritage Board, said: "We wanted to present an installation that is visually appealing so as to attract more visitors and concurrently, we wanted it to be educational and provide insights into Malay literary culture."
The 30 cat standees were designed by Japanese artist Juno, who specialises in vivid illustrations of cats and has over 300,000 followers on Instagram to date. This is her first collaboration with MHC and the first time her work has been featured in South-east Asia.
The centre is housed in Istana Kampong Gelam, a former Malay palace that was gazetted as a national monument in 2015. It showcases the history, culture and contributions of the Malay community in Singapore.
Ms Low Yen Ling, Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth, told Parliament on Monday that the centre would be closed next year for redevelopment to ensure its continued relevance and accessibility.
Fringe activities in conjunction with the installation will also be put up, including eight storytelling performances which touch on how cats and their traits are embedded in the Malay language. Tickets for the sessions cost $10 each and will be in English and Malay.
Starting next week, visitors can also take part in a weekly sticker hunt activity at the heritage centre for a chance to win gifts, including cat badges made by Juno.
There will also be two sessions about cat welfare which will be held virtually.
