In this contemporary age of dating, there is no longer a ‘normal’ way of meeting someone; from apps to arranged marriages and night clubs to BTOs, the realities of dating in Singapore have never been so frustratingly convoluted and diverse. Informed by interviews of Singaporean youth and their real dating experiences, You Are Loveable seeks to showcase the lesser-known yet common dating stories happening right under your noses through a collection of comic short-story format. By doing so, it hopes to show that no matter your dating struggles, silly or severe, you will always be loveable.
An experiment on non-conventional printed narratives and storytelling. Adopting traits of ergodic literature, it is a fictional graphic novel/cookbook whose narratives are unravelled through recipes, journals, emails and game(s). As an ergodic, experimental text, it requires the reader to explore the various visuals, texts and formats to fully discover the narrative.
The story follows an unidentified creature seeking to impress a cashier by writing a cookbook, of which the book details its journey in writing the cookbook.
LUCID is a 2D-animated web comic which follows a young woman named Samantha, who is obsessed with the idea of lucid dreaming as a means to gain some control over her boring life. Her best friend, Izzy, introduces her to her uncle, who teaches them an easy way to induce lucid dreaming. After trying the new method, Samantha and Izzy fall asleep and find themselves in a pasar malam, or night market, where they quickly realise how much danger they’re in.
Mai Kiasu Lah!! is a semi-fictional graphic novel told through the perspective of the author, an adult who is reflecting on her experiences with Singapore’s kiasu education culture and performance-centric society. The author characterises her fear of losing out as an imaginary monster. Through a series of short stories, the author explores her relationship with this kiasu mentality and academic validation growing up in Singapore’s education system. This collection of stories hopes to challenge the performance-centred nature of Singaporean society, and question the effectiveness of a meritocratic education system on nurturing young creatives in Singapore. This project therefore aims to shed some light on this issue and not to solve it entirely, but to provide a sense of solace to those who feel the same way.
Mother Knows…Best? is a semi-fictional and semi-autobiographical illustrated publication based on a series of conversations with my family and close friends. The publication explores stories of emotional inheritance in Singapore from a Generation-Z perspective and serves as a means of self-reflection of my own experience.
Emotional inheritance is the transmission of emotions from generation to generation. In studying the intergenerational transmission of trauma, also known as generational trauma, where the effects of a traumatic incident get passed down from those who directly experienced the incident to subsequent generations, we investigate how our ancestors’ unprocessed emotions, especially trauma, are passed down as an emotional inheritance, leaving a trace in our minds and in those of future generations.
Through storytelling, the publication will allow greater awareness and understanding of this phenomenon, and educate the various nuanced and layered ways in which emotional inheritance manifests in family units and their dynamics. This will encourage readers to make sense of their own experience, as well as provide them with a culturally appropriate, pragmatic and accessible means for retrospection.
