Yam Chew Oh

Used airline face shield, found wood, mother’s vintage yarn, double happiness bead from brother’s wedding, chocolate foil

20 x 4 2/8 x 11 3/8 inches

2021

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world and the way we travel. This work includes airline-issued face shields that I had to wear for more than 30 hours each way when I travelled home to Singapore in July 2020—there were seven passengers on the plane, including me.

I was incredibly fortunate that I got to spend time with my family, especially my then-newborn niece and nephew, and to attend my brother’s wedding in the middle of the global health crisis.

Inkjet on second-hand vellum, found plastic cap, used Christmas tree netting, fishing wire

Approx. 13 feet x 20 x 20 inches

2022

The staggering impact of single-use plastic bottles on the environment and climate crisis stems from our modern convenience culture. It has been estimated that about 1 million plastic bottles are purchased across the world every minute, and around 60 million end up in landfills every day. Americans send over 38 billion water bottles to landfills yearly, the equivalent of 1,500 plastic bottles every second. It takes an average of 450 years for a plastic bottle to completely decompose, and some can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.

Found piano parts and metal, gifted thread, childhood marble

Approx. 44 1/2 × 9 1/2 × 2 6/8 inches

September 2023

Vermont Studio Center Sculpture Residency, USA

Vermont Studio Center Sculpture Residency, USA

September 2023

Artist’s family baby blanket, used da bao (takeaway) plastic bag handles from Singapore, Christmas wreath metal frame and water bottle cap from Baltimore, beads from mother’s broken bracelet, double happiness bead from brother’s wedding

Approx. 96 x 24 x 24 inches

2022

Hawker! Hawker!, Singapore Art Week 2022

Whenever I telephone my mother from the United States, where I am based, I begin with “Jia ba buay” (Hokkien for “Have you eaten?”), a colloquial greeting to ask if one has had their fill, synonymous with “How are you?” This expression is also used in multicultural Singapore as “Saaptiya?” (Tamil), “Dah makan?” (Malay), and “Eat already?” (Singlish). Singaporeans love their food and social interactions almost always involve eating or having a drink together.

The Relationshape explores my connections with family and friends across time and space, through inviting 88 of them to co-create this sculpture at the iconic Lau Pa Sat hawker center in Singapore. Handwritten invitations were mailed from Baltimore, Maryland ahead of Singapore Art Week 2022, where this work was installed. The invitations included plastic string handles of Singapore’s iconic da bao/打包 (takeaway) plastic bag — that I collected on two precious trips home during the COVID-19 pandemic — and a set of collaborative instructions.

Stainless steel food storage container; plastic pill bottle; plastic bag, vintage yarn and ribbon from mother; secondhand frame

16 × 13 1/2 × 4 inches

2021

Vintage cloth from mother, used laundry hanger

Approx. 40 2/8 × 12 × 2 6/8 inches

2021

Vintage cloth from mother, used laundry hangers, wire tie

Approx. 43 1/2 x 12 2/8 x 2 1/8 inches

2021

2017-2019

New York

Found metal, used cardboard and plastic packaging

23 7/8 x 10 2/8 x 7 inches

2018

My late father was a karung guni man, the Singapore equivalent of the 19th-century European rag-and-bone man who scavenged unwanted rags, bones, and other waste from where they lived for sale to merchants. In America, they are called junk men, and in many developing countries, waste pickers.

The Baltimore Sun (March 16, 2012) noted that in 1940s/50s Baltimore, the junk man was similarly called the “rag/bone man.” Karung guni are the Malay words for gunny/burlap sack, used in the past by Singapore karung guni men to hold the old newspapers they collected for resale.

I grew up helping my father with his karung guni trade. We collected everything from newspapers, magazines, and cardboard to scrap wood, metal, pipes, wiring, and generators for precious copper. It had a profound impact on my love for used and found materials and how I handle them.

C-section wound protection pad straps from niece’s birth, vintage ribbon from mother, found frame, staple

Approx. 28 x 13 x 2 6/8 inches

2020

For Charlotte

Bread bag fastening tabs from Singapore, second-hand frame, paper, glue

12 7/16 x 10 6/16 x 13/16 inches

2020

My older brother and I grew up in a few of the long-gone kampong (village) of Singapore. As kids, we collected discarded and second-hand items with our karung guni (junk man/waste picker) father and hawk them at the now-defunct Sungei Road flea market, Singapore’s oldest and largest. Our primary (elementary) school holidays were spent selling the amazing confectionery that our parents made — soon keuh (turnip cakes), bperng keuh (glutinous rice cakes), goreng pisang (fried banana fritters), etc. — to the workers of Sembawang Shipyard and the residents of Chong Pang Village. For the former, we rose before dawn so that we could secure a good spot for our makeshift stall outside the shipyard’s main gates, to compete with other illegal hawkers selling all kinds of foods/drinks to the hundreds of shipyard workers; one of us had to look out for the authorities that raided us every now and then. For the latter, my brother carried an aluminum pot heavy with piping hot keuh, and I, a plastic bag of coins for change and an air horn to promote our goods.

Because of COVID-19, I got to spend a precious amount of one-on-one time with my brother, the longest we’ve ever done as adults. We love walking down memory lanes together, reminiscing about our lives, much of it alien to many Singaporeans. We chatted and listened to music from our formative years, often over breakfast. Little did we know that he and I have been having the same morning meal for years: two pieces of toast (one with butter and the other with peanut butter) and coffee with milk.

Used egg carton, packaging, and mini piglet mooncake holders, and copper wire

Approx. 11 x 6 x 11 inches

2020

Used shower caddy, foam packaging, milk carton seal, and chair leg protector

10 3/16 x 8 x 4 3/16 inches

2021

Wrapper of tidbit gift from nephews, take-away food container lid, electrical plug protectors, styrofoam packaging, shower cap from hotel, vintage button from mother, pre-loved frame, nail, tape

11 x 10 1/8 x 2 inches

2021

Used laundromat hanger, clothing price tag fastener, foam packaging, pin

Approx. 10 x 8 x 8 2/8 inches

2020

Second-hand frame and backing

24 1/2 x 21 1/2 x 1 1/8 inches

2020

Used foam packaging and price tag fasteners, found wood, screw

Approx. 21 × 7 5/16 × 4 4/16 inches

2020

Acrylic paint on Post-It, anniversary bouquet ribbon, used grocery packaging, found wooden stick and metal mesh, and pin

Approx. 40 x 13 x 2 1/2 inches

2018

Vintage cloth and white tie from mother, and found frame

Approx. 50 1/2 x 29 6/8 x 1 1/2 inches

2020

Used laundromat hangers and foam protective packaging, found bike bottle cage 

24 x 25 1/2 x 22 inches

2020

Used fruit packaging, Instax photo, artist tape, raffia string, and pin

19 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 3 6/8 inches

2018

Used wire from funeral tent and cardboard packaging; found wooden structure, rubber tubing, plastic knob; and acrylic paint

Approx. 17 6/8 x 12 6/8 x 16 1/2 inches

2019

Used dryer sheet and wet wipe, bottle brush, rayon thread, and hemp cord

81 x 12 1/2 x 7 inches

2018

The Ol' Sniff Factory

Used food packaging and clothing price tag fastener

9 3/8 x 6 7/8 x 4 1/2 inches

Found wooden frame and metal cap, used canvas tie and air bubble cushion, and T-pin

Approx. 39 x 13 x 10 inches

2018

Used salt container, hanger, paper packaging, and metal part

Approx. 17 1/2 x 7 x 13 inches

2020