The Arts - Visual Arts

The visual arts were a popular mode of artistic expression among the College’s students, encompassing painting, drawing and sculpture, film and photography, installation and performance art, fashion and more.

They had access to two art studios: The Georgette Chen Arts Studio was dedicated to the visual arts, and was used for classes, events and as a gallery space; the Flexible Studio (Studio 3) could also be also used for various visual art activities, and as an art gallery and exhibition space.

Student organisations such as the Visual Arts Society and the Yale-NUS Photography Club provided opportunities to form like-minded networks and collaborate with fellow students. There were also options for students to hone their skills and expand their knowledge through workshops and talks given by their peers, faculty and visiting artists.

Visual Arts Society

The Visual Arts Society (VAS) was a platform for Yale-NUS students to explore and engage with the visual arts, whether by promoting an appreciation for art, honing individual artistic skills or providing a support network for practicing artists.

Members organised and participated in visual art-related activities, including art jams (where art materials were provided for students to experiment with), workshops, exhibitions, artist talks and more. VAS welcomed anyone interested in art, regardless of skill or experience level.

Founded by a few arts enthusiasts from the College’s inaugural cohort in 2013, VAS grew to become a major contributor to the Yale-NUS arts scene.

As part of the ‘YNC Arts Fest 2015: Before We Leave’, VAS presented ‘Canvas’, an exhibition featuring works from migrant workers, the ‘Drawing Methods’ class and VAS members. The migrant workers were from the Humanitarian Organization for Migrant Economics (HOME) Women’s Shelter and worked with VAS members to create their artworks.

The ‘YNC Arts Fest 2015’ was a student-run arts festival that took place in March 2015, bringing together practitioners of visual arts (including VAS), theatre, performance and music for performances, exhibitions, talks, workshops and more. The theme ‘Before We Leave’ reflected the College’s move from its temporary home at RC4 to its newly-built campus.

‍Also as part of the ‘YNC Arts Fest 2015’, VAS organised a ‘Life-Drawing and Painting Workshop’ where students could practice figure drawing and painting techniques.

‘One Night Stand’ was an annual event where participants were asked to respond to a theme by conceptualising, creating and exhibiting a work of art within 24 hours. The process also involved group critiques of the other students’ artworks, so giving an insight into many aspects of the process of art creation.

Every October, the VAS held ‘ARTober’, a month-long series of visual art activities and workshops. To encourage participation in the arts, even students with no art background could try their hand at a range of artistic mediums and, at the end of the month, see their work mounted in an exhibition.

This exhibition showcased artworks from the 2016 ‘ARTober’ events and ‘Drawing Methods’ classes.

During 2019’s ‘ARTober’, VAS held watercolour and pottery workshops open to all student who wanted to try their hand at a new artform.

Yale-NUS
Photography Club

The Yale-NUS Photography Club was formed with the aim of promoting photography as an artform that conveys social messages and to increase exposure to thoughtful and meaningful photography.

The Club’s members were present to document many significant College events such as sports competitions, theatre productions, music concerts, guest speakers and campus life in general.

They also conducted photo shoots for student organisations, hosted talks and workshops by professional photographers and mounted exhibitions of students’ photography.

Arts Fest Photography Challenge

The Arts Fest Photography Challenge was part of the ‘YNC Arts Fest 2015: Before We Leave’. Students took photographs during the festival, with prizes being awarded for those that best captured the theme ‘Before We Leave’, a reference to the College leaving its first home in the RC4 building.

Take Foto 4 What?

In October 2015, the Club and the College's Arts Department hosted a discussion on modern photography with Singapore and Malaysia-based photographers Bernice Wong, Geraldine Kang, Ian Teh, and Vignes Balasingam, moderated by the College photography instructor Tom White and the Club co-founder Chng Yi Kai (Class of 2018).

To Be Continued: Installation II

The Photography Club organised a series of photography exhibitions under the title ‘To Be Continued’. The second part, ‘Installation II’, was held in Studio 3 in November 2015.

To Be Continued: Installation (III): Human Stories

‘Installation (III): Human Stories’ was the third part of the 'To Be Continued' exhibition series, and featured projects from student photographers and photographs from events the Club had covered. The accompanying booklet introduces the exhibition and the student photographers featured.

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Film Societies

‍The Yale-NUS Film Society aimed to build a vibrant film culture in Yale-NUS by providing a platform for film appreciation and for budding filmmakers to make their own films. They organised film festivals and screenings, short film and music video productions and group outings to the cinema, creating a friendly space within the school community for fellow film lovers to talk all things cinema.

Yale-NUS Filmmakers was a group of students interested in producing and editing their own films. In addition to organising talks by filmmakers, outings to film festivals and workshops and training labs, they also screened the films they produced, including works-in-progress and newly-completed films.

During the 'YNC Arts Fest 2015: Before We Leave', the Yale-NUS Filmmakers organised a series of workshops focusing on three aspects of filmmaking: camera, lighting and editing.

Participants could then put these skills in practice by making their own short films.

Yale-NUS Storytellers Welcome Tea

This exhibition mixed literature and visual arts, with text labels, photographs, drawings and other materials combining to create visual poems on the theme of Lunar New Year.

Cross-Disciplinary Storytelling Panel

In April 2019, the Storytellers hosted a panel on cross-disciplinary storytelling and engaging with storytelling from multiple perspectives, featuring the College’s photography instructor Tom White, Manager of Intercultural Engagement Sahar Kazemini and future Assistant Professor of Humanities (History) Matthew Reeder.

Creating Narratives Through Images and Space

The Storytellers held a masterclass with artist Wei Leng Tay and curator Dr Olivier Krischer in 2020. This participatory workshop focused on image-making, storytelling and space. Participants created artwork based on their last photograph and curated their own photography exhibition.

Halcyon Heavens: The Yale-NUS Guide to the Universe

The society provided thought-provoking quotations for ‘Halcyon Heavens: The Yale-NUS Guide to the Universe’, a publication featuring student photographs of astronomical objects produced by the astronomical society Ashen Light, in collaboration with The Cosmoscience and The Octant.

With Open Eyes: A Zine About Diversity

In December 2019, the group published a zine that explored themes of diversity, connection and self through a collection of students’ prose, poetry and visual artworks.

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Yale-NUS Fashion Society

Fashion was another popular form of artistic expression at Yale-NUS, with regular fashion shows highlighting the work of student fashion designers.

Many of these shows were organised by the Yale-NUS Fashion Society, who also offered sewing and craft workshops, fashion-related outings and events and opportunities to network and collaborate.

Held in the Black Box Theatre in February 2019, the Yale-NUS Fashion Society’s first fashion show explored the theme of its title, ‘Deception’. The costumes were created by the society’s student designers.

March and April 2022 saw another showcase of the work of the College’s up-and-coming fashion designers, this time inspired by the title ‘Resurrection’. The designs were modelled by students in the Black Box Theatre.

African and Afro fashion and culture was celebrated in November 2016 with the runway show ‘Tokelezea: African Fashion and Dance’. A Q&A panel highlighting African fashion was followed by an evening of music, food and dance. For this event, the Fashion Society collaborated with the Yale-NUS African, African-American and Afro-Caribbean Society (YAAAS).

Artist-in-Residence Programme

The Yale-NUS Artist-in-Residence (AIR) programme invited professional artists to campus to create their art while interacting with students through workshops, talks and public events.

During the talk ‘Natural Questions: Art for a Small Planet’, the College’s inaugural artists-in-residence, Christa Donner and Andrew Yang, discussed their art practices, the complex relationship of human and ecological issues and their residency teaching the course ‘Culturing Nature: Ecological Art and the Garden’.