An Emergency In Art.(Culture)(From Words to Pictures: Art During the Emergency exhibit in Singapore)

Byline: Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop

An exhibit in Singapore reveals the different ways paintings can be used to promote a political cause.

The Malayan emergency, a term used by the British colonial government to describe its guerrilla war with the Malayan Communist Party in the 1950s, is a dark, rather neglected period of Singapore's history. Indeed, it's hard to imagine that today's city of orderly streets, where a permit is required for more than five people to assemble, was once a hotbed of political and social upheaval with regular worker strikes, student protests and race riots.

During those tumultuous times, the two sides shared one common goal: the "Malayanization" of art and culture. The British colonial powers thought that promoting indigenous culture would win the hearts and minds of the local population in its anti-communist war -- the first step toward greater cohesion among the region's diverse ethnic communities. At the same time, the left-wing youths they were fighting supported Malaya culture as the path toward independence.

Art was a powerful propaganda tool for both sides. Works produced by two significant art societies aligned with those opposing sides are now on display in "From Words to Pictures: Art During the Emergency" at the Singapore Art Museum (through Oct. 31). Works by the British-backed Singapore Art Society depict a gentle life in the tropics, where fishermen and farmers go about their tasks peacefully; across the gallery the social-realist Equator Art Society's paintings reflect the much grittier experiences of the local population.

The exhibition presents videos of several of the artists from both sides recalling their memories of the period. In one, Ho Kok Hoe, who headed the Singapore Art Society in the '50s, recounts how its members included famous local artists like Chen Wen Hsi, Georgette Chen and Liu Kang, who all played an important role in developing the Nanyang style, a fusion of Eastern philosophy and subject matter with Western esthetics, style and composition.

The Singapore Art Society's paintings depict romanticized scenes of everyday life, far ...