Singaporean artist paints vibrant mural in Coimbatore.Reflecting daily life | Trends

When an artist from Singapore was invited to paint a mural on the wall of a residential building in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, he couldn't refuse the offer. Yip Yu Chong, 55, flew to the city in late January 2024 to beautify a four-story building in Ukkadam.

His mural measures 15 meters by 14 meters and takes inspiration from everyday life in the city. It features a variety of activities, including men pouring tea, women making tosai, and stalls selling pani puri. According to The Straits Times, he also added a goat and a cat to the mural after residents kept asking him to draw pictures of their pets.

Chong also shared updates on his 10-day visit to the city on his Instagram handle. He shared several photos on Jan. 28 with the caption, “The next 10 days in my studio – Prelude to 'I Paint my World.'” The photo shows him enjoying tea and food. Some display murals on city buildings. Several photos show children playing and a woman filling a pitcher from a community tank.

In another post, she shared an “Indian version of Chinatown tea pouring mural.” He also shared a photo of a mural painted by a friend in the city.

In a post on February 4, Chong shared the progress of the Ukkadam mural. At the same time, he wrote, “I'm happy to say things are going well!” The photos show him posing from various angles while looking at the mural. One of the photos shows him “holding'' a glass of tea that he painted, and another shows a man “drinking'' the tea he is pouring into the mural. The third shows another part of the building with incomplete artwork. The remaining photos show him enjoying meals, playing with children and taking selfies with locals.

On February 6, the last day of painting the mural, he shared the story behind including the pani puri vendor in his work. “As the sun goes down, the stalls line up. Right in front of the wall is a pani puri stall. That inspired the idea to add a twist to the giant mural by adding it to the wall as a life-sized part of the mural. was born. Many people came and signaled us 'super' (meaning 'super'),'' Chong said in an Instagram post.

He also added the Tamil phrase “வாங்க சாப்பிடலாம்” to the mural. Literally translated, it means “Let's eat.” He explained that he used this phrase to “imitate the many typographies found throughout the city walls of Coimbatore”.

Chong also revealed that he received help from passersby when painting the mural. “There was a man who corrected the shape of the spatula I used to create the tosai for my mural. He took my brush and drew the correct shape on the ground,” Chong said of Straits.・Told the Times.

During his stay in Coimbatore, Chong noticed some similarities between the Tamil cultures of Singapore, Malaysia and India. He told The Strait Times: “There are similarities between Singaporean and Malaysian Tamil culture, such as Thaipusam, roti prata and teh tarik, but it's interesting to see how the culture has evolved across the diaspora. That's very surprising.”