After graduating last year Tan Yao, has kept himself very busy serving his country. He allows himself some creativity and fits it around whatever free time he can make for himself.

“My work mainly consists of stencil pieces. I started out painting, but I got tired of mixing paint, and I always had a hard time trying to get the right colour combination. So I decided to try my hand at spray paint. During that time I was very much interested in graffiti and stenciling, with Blek le Rat as my main source of inspiration. For my Extended Essay, I decided to explore the topic of graffiti and how it represents the voice of our current generation. During my research, the art of using stencils gradually started to appeal to me, and I decided to incorporate it into my work. For my Final Year project, I had a total of 18 pieces which revolved around the theme of unconventional beauty, along with many other sub themes of female oppression and racial discrimination.”

What’s next for Yoa? “I’ve just been accepted into the Architecture course at NUS. Yay!”

The banner for this month is provided by Peter Ong. Besides the commercial photography, Peter also dabbles in the gifts of Mother Nature as you can see.

Over the past five years, Peter has been preserving nature’s fleeting moments on camera, showcasing the beautiful world in the precious nature reserves of Singapore. “Contrary to popular belief, one need not travel to faraway places in order to capture stunning nature photographs. If one is observant enough, it is possible to capture that once-in-a-lifetime picture at your neighbourhood garden! Having an eye for detail is of utmost importance when it comes to perfecting the art of nature photography, which can be further classified into landscape, avian, macro, flora and fauna.”

Yun Ting Lee holds a Fashion Degree from the Raffles Design Institute, and a Diploma in Fashion Design from LASALLE, College of the Arts. In 2009, she was one of the selected designers for the ‘Resuscitation’ art and fashion exhibition, curated by Woods & Woods, presenting a three-outfit collection made out of used clothing.

“For me, art, philosophy and history synthesize and form a fundamental part of my aesthetic view,” Yun Ting explains. “I enjoy exploring how the fusion intersects with social phenomena now, thus reflecting it in my designs to form functionality and contemporary fashion.”

Titled Cognizance of this moving universe whirled along by Time, a quote from Marcel Proust’s autobiographical novel ‘À la recherche du temps perdu‘, Yun Ting’s collection explores involuntary memory and the unconscious. “The collection also portraits his recognition of the past in present moments by incorporating elements of past clothing into present and modern looking designs,” she adds. “By coining involuntary memories, some of the garments incorporate second hand products or clothing. Also, elements like opening details visible on the back of the garment, represent memories which are lodged in the back of our mind.”

For Open Call 2010, The Substation has selected \\: The Singapore River as a Psychogeographical Faultline by Debbie Ding to be presented at The Substation Gallery from 2 to 26 September.

About her art proposal, Debbie Ding explains that she has “always been interested in maps and urban spaces.” “Through this exhibition, I hope to explore the Singapore River as a ‘psychogeographical faultline’ where reality, memories and imagined spaces interact, merge, or drift apart.” Psychogeography is the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment on the emotions and behaviour of individuals.

The exhibition includes a map installation, generated by algorithms, that will help the audience to understand and make sense of the significance of the river, increase awareness of local geography, as well as highlight the importance of maps as a tool for the production of meaning. In addition there will be 20 to 40 small hand drawn maps depicting various people’s perspectives of Singapore.

The audience will also be invited to take part in an interactive exercise during the exhibition, where they can mark a map of the Singapore River with both real and fictional landmarks, stories, and memories, creating, in turn, their own mythology for the river.

After graduating with a B.A (Hons) in English Literature in 2007, Debbie Ding worked as a copywriter and researcher while involving herself with a wide range of artistic projects in the areas of illustration, graphic design and theatre. Her current interests include creative design, writing and the technicalities behind interactive design.

\\: The Singapore River as a Psychogeographical Faultline is Debbie Ding’s first solo exhibition.

Clara Yee is the 642nd dwarf planet found to orbit the sun. She holds a firm belief that the gravitational pull of the moon creates tidal currents in her inkpot. She currently schools in Central Saint Martins and has illustrated for various brands including Johnson & Johnson and Alexandra McQueen.

“I am extremely chuffed to join DesignSingapore as a scholar, and attribute it to years of practice drawing mustaches and unibrow on every character in my textbooks,” she quips.

About the featured works: “Alexander the Great (top) and Well yes, coffee keeps you awake (bottom) are both done in pencils for individual projects, and are unabashedly irrelevant with undertones of humor.”