A full-time Singaporean finance director, Yip began dabbling in street art after chancing upon Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic’s murals in 2015.
Yip is inspired by his childhood growing up in the city during the ’70s and ’80s. To capture scenes from the past realistically, he looks to old photographs – and his memories of growing up in Singapore’s Chinatown in the ’70s and ’80s., he has seen Singapore developing so fast that many things have been lost. His hope is that his murals, which can take him up to 3 weeks to complete, bring back fond memories for the older generation, as well as serve as an education on Singapore’s heritage for younger people.
Bird Singing Corner
The Bird Singing Corner, which illustrates the bygone scene of Tiong Bahru Bird corner, where bird lovers used to gather and admire each other’s’ prized pets in nicely decorated cages, chatting and sipping coffee.
Pasar and The Fortune Teller
Thian Hock Keng Temple
In his large Thian Hock Keng temple mural, Yip set out to depict the whole Singapore story. The 44m long mural outside the temple was painted in just 21 days. The mural depicts the life of the early Hokkien immigrants when they had just arrived here at Amoy Street.
I have added the mural in many parts, to get the full story you should ‘read’ the mural from the right to the left.
Jim's travels 