June 2017, Kult Gallery, Singapore | Sungei Uncle was a collaborative exhibition by Kult Gallery and local storytelling platform, Our Grandfather Story. It presented artists’ and photographers’ impressions of the iconic Sungei Road Thieves’ Market and brought a little part of the market inside a gallery setting from 3 - 10 June 2017.
A week before the exhibition launched, the gallery initiated an art walk at the Thieves’ Market with 15 selected artists, and facilitated the making of several artworks on location. All artworks were created on cardboard and newspaper surfaces, simply to mimic the experience of taking a piece of the market and leaving one’s impression of the market on it. Some artists purchased items from the market to create their works, while others used a variety of mediums including charcoal, tape, cloth, acrylic paint and markers to complete their works.
Zim, an artist drawn to installation art and also a regular at the Thieves’ Market, created Old Roads, Old Gods using items purchased at the market for a total of SGD 5. Through his piece, he comments that the sellers at the market are Gods of Fortune, and being in the market, we are in their temple, surrounded by a shrine of their treasures.
Zim's Artwork
During the exhibition, the gallery floors were lined with tarps, and artwork and photographs were placed in a manner that imitated the display at the market. By dispersing vintage display items along with the artwork on sale, the exhibition encouraged the spirit of “digging”, or finding items and images that speak to your own individual.
You Want to Buy or Not?! Thieves' Market Zine (SGD 5)
The gallery also compiled all artworks into a zine as part of this exhibition and launched it during the exhibition for SGD 5 each. The zine is available in a limited edition of 50 on the Kult Store.