‘Trainforest’ artworks by local artists and MINDS students add colour to Kembangan MRT viaduct pillars
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Megan Wee
SINGAPORE – Local artist Nur Aida Sa’ad was ecstatic to hear that she would be collaborating with a group of MINDS Towner Gardens School (TGS) students to create an art installation for the Kembangan neighbourhood.
“I feel like children are very imaginative, and they always surprise you with their creativity. So I was excited to work with them,” recalled the 35-year-old who goes by the moniker Yellow Mushmellow.
But the children’s curiosity and creativity surpassed her expectations.
“They almost don’t really care what the task is. If they want to colour, they will just colour, and I like that,” Ms Aida said. “I feel like, as adults, we are very restricted by how things are supposed to be, but the children are very bold and brave.”
Prof Faishal speaking to Nur Muhammad Darwish B Mohammad Ridzwan, one of the MINDS collaborators.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
After three months of creation, Trainforest was unveiled on March 31, with Associate Professor Faishal Ibrahim, who is MP for Kembangan (in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC), giving an opening speech and touring the art installation.
This is the second art installation launched under the Art Under Viaduct Spaces initiative, a project by the National Arts Council (NAC) and Land Transport Authority (LTA).
Colourful nature-themed artworks, printed on 3m by 6m canvases, wrap around 13 concrete pillars flanking five lanes into the Kembangan private estate.
Each piece was created with Ms Aida and one of 12 students from MINDS TGS, and with her sister Nur Aisha Sa’ad, who goes by the moniker Catbee and is an artist with autism spectrum disorder.
The installation, spaced out over a 400m stretch beneath the train tracks at Kembangan MRT station, is expected to be up for a year.
Ms Aida was inspired to pursue a nature theme after noticing an unassuming neighbourhood park right beneath the train tracks while on a site recce.
“I took a lot of photos and realised there were more than 13 types of plants and flowers that were all very different. I thought, wow, it’s so nice that there is a park under the MRT,” she said.
Trainforest is the second art installation launched under the Art Under Viaduct Spaces initiative.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
“People don’t really notice it because it’s such a daily thing for them. So, I wanted to highlight that because I believe in seeing magic in everyday scenes and everyday observations.”
To encourage passers-by to notice and appreciate the beauty of the flora, Ms Aida assigned each MINDS TGS student and her sister a flower or plant to take inspiration from in their drawings.
The assignments were based on the strengths and interests of each student that she observed over the course of three 1½-hour workshops she held with them.
For example, Ms Aida assigned leaves to 15-year-old Aidan Azrian, who has a fondness for lines, so that he could express the leaf veins in his unique way.
The student artists did not fail to surprise her with their creativity. Aidan, for example, created imaginary characters. This led the pair to conceive a narrative about how the characters were little insect monsters hiding underneath the leaves.
“It was a meaning-making and intentional way of creative expression that’s true to them,” she explained.
Student Muhammad Darwish Ridzwan, 14, said he was happy to be a part of the project, adding: “I hope people feel happy to see my colourful flowers and leaves.”
Introduced in 2025 with the launch of the A Living Museum For Bukit Gombak art installation at Bukit Gombak MRT station, the Art Under Viaduct Spaces initiative aims to enliven and transform public transport infrastructure into vibrant and meaningful community spaces. This brings the arts closer to the community, said NAC’s strategic partnerships and engagement director Sam Lay.
Not everyone has the chance to experience the arts in their daily life outside of galleries, so NAC can bring the arts to them, he added.
Mr Lay said NAC is working closely with LTA to explore expanding the initiative to other transport infrastructure spaces, such as underground tunnels and roads.
LTA’s community partnership (South) director Elynn Han said locations are chosen based on factors such as foot traffic and community involvement.
“By transforming public transport spaces into canvases for the arts, we are reimagining familiar areas into unconventional cultural experiences that enrich daily commutes,” she said.
