Journal 5: NUS Museum Field Trip Art Critique (Group)

Liu Kang (1951)

Building Site / Samsui Women

Oil on canvas

151 x 212.5  cm

Group art critique written collectively with Joshua Tan, Audrey Chiang, Ang Minyu and Ryan Chong.

Response

When we first saw Liu Kang’s painting, we were intrigued by its depiction of the samsui women in Singapore during the period of 1920s-1940s. The vibrant red colour of the hats immediately captured our attention and fuelled our curiosity to further analyse the art piece. Being Singaporeans ourselves, we’ve all heard stories of the samsui women and the hardships they’ve had to endure. As we observed the painting in detail, we started to pick up on the emotionless and exhausted facial expressions of the samsui women, as well as the kind of harsh environment they were made to work in. We felt a sense of sympathy and empathy then and there, as we started to recall the experiences and stories of the samsui women we’ve seen on TV in the past. Though the documentaries and TV dramas, coupled with Liu Kang’s painting offer just a glimpse into the lives of samsui women, it was enough to make us feel grateful towards these strong and independent women for their contribution towards Singapore.

Description

Liu Kang’s Building Site / Samsui Women is a large oil on canvas painting, and it illustrates a group of samsui women working together in a rather harsh environment. Liu Kang mainly uses red and lighter hues when giving emphasis to the samsui women and the red brick wall in the background. Additionally, contours are used deliberately around the limbs of  the samsui women to portray their muscularity. Attention was also given to their facial features, such as wrinkles and eye bags, which give onlookers some clue to the age of the samsui women. Repetition is also observed in the artwork, as seen by the red hats and the masculine facial features of the samsui women. Liu Kang uses a combination of colours to illustrate the harsh environment the samsui women work in. Though there is a mixture of colours, there is harmony between the dull colours of brown and grey used in the construction site, and more vibrant colours such as the red and blue outfits of the samsui women. This strategic use of colours creates a stark contrast, channeling the viewer’s attention towards the samsui women and their distinctive red hats at first glance.

Analysis and Interpretation

In this piece, Liu Kang highlights the strength and resilience of the female economic migrants who labored as construction workers in the early years of Singapore. More often than not, Samsui women are lauded for the work they have done in the building and construction industry as they took up occupations to support their families. Being paramount figures in Singapore’s built-up infrastructure and exemplary icons who endured many hardships, Liu Kang intends to offer an account of their exacting vocation so that viewers are able to evoke a deeper sense of appreciation and empathy for these Samsui women.

In particular, Liu Kang is able to direct viewers to these female figures by employing contrasting colours and bright hues with bold outlines. Donning red headgears, blue tops and black trousers, these Samsui women were easily recognized as economic labourers during the pre- and post- independence of Singapore. Liu Kang is also able to convey their lifestyle at the time, through the toned and muscular built of these female figures, suggesting the harsh and working conditions and the effort it took to make a living in Singapore. At the same time, the earthly tones set at the background creates a feeling of warmth and coolness concurrently. The various shades of brown evoke a sense of nostalgia and remind us of the great works done by these female figures.

Given that there are sufficient attention directed towards their distinct livery and their involvement in the construction industry, this artwork addresses themes of social cohesion and national identity. The overall idea of this piece applauds Samsui women as pioneering figures in Singapore through a detailed and realistic painting of their labour on a construction site. Besides, we feel that this painting is rather well-balanced in terms of its scale. The artist did not intentionally increase the size of the samsui women to emphasise their importance. Rather, the artist kept it true to reality and used other techniques such as playing with colours, to draw attention onto the samsui women (e.g. bright red and a mixture of dark and light hues).

Evaluation and Judgment 

The painting has been pretty effective to convey its intended “message” to us because we as the audience are ultimately Singaporeans. As such, we are able to relate to such a context here that the that hardships of the samsui women are part and parcel of our Singapore national culture and history. Also the juxtaposition of colours between the samsui women and the background adequately weaves in the issues proposition at hand which allows us to delve into deeper considerations about our politics and cultural identity. This may not be the same in the case of a foreigner because unlike us Singaporeans, they have different experiences and may not have prior exposure to the samsui women.

A painting like this can be thus said to be limited in what can be communicated to an audience. Emotional aspects are what we can infer from the painting, but we still need external information to find out in depth some of the struggles that the samsui women were facing. This is because on the surface level, it only portrays the physical hardship, without revealing the emotional turmoil that they go through within.

With regards to whether there are things that can be improved or changed, it can be said that perhaps more can be included into the painting, but it is indeed difficult to capture every single aspect of the samsui women. In the case of this painting, it has successfully conveyed the messages as stated previously. Aspects that worked especially well visually are the repetition of the samsui women. Including a few samsui women helped with the visual impact of them working together in harsh conditions. Also, the red hats stood out to visually capture attention.

All in all, the painting tells us the difficult past that people in Singapore had to go through and how we have eventually progressed as a nation. Relating back to our initial response, our thoughts had intensified after this whole thought process. We were initially just in awe of the delicate strokes of the painting and how the colours complemented each other. However, upon reflection of the context of the samsui women, this painting places itself within our culture and certain issues that surfaced in society.