Our Hood: Yuhua

Our Hood: Yuhua Mural Project is a collaborative effort between youth creatives and the residents of Yuhua. It is coordinated by Wang Yiming and Tan Yi Hong who saw the transformative potential of the unsuspecting everyday void deck and wondered, “What if void decks were not void?”

With administrative and community expertise from Bold At Work and some experience in murals, they set off conducting a survey for ideas that to visually represent the Yuhua community. They received feedback that the void deck at the Senior Citizens’ Corner feels dark, crammed and uninviting, while the wall at the mailbox area was called plain and boring. Armed with the residents’ ideas and blessings, the team realised that the murals are a platform for the residents’ voices and used the feedback as a guide in designing the murals. The mural at the Senior Citizens’ Corner was designed and painted by students of Tembusu College from NUS, to encourage youths to engage with seniors. For the mailbox area mural, residents were invited to experience something unexpected in Singapore: to actually paint on a HDB wall in public.

Throughout the journey, the residents’ encouragement was beyond expectations. An elderly couple made tapioca soup, donated bottled drinks, and loaned ladders. An elderly Indian man on a scooter stopped by every week to compliment on the children and youths painting, while parents watched on and shared stories about their own experiences and dreams with art in their youth.

Since the completion of the murals, positive feedback from the residents have been in abundance, and one can witness members of the community pausing as they pass the murals to point out characters and icons they recognise. The whole place feels more vibrant and exciting and it is all possible because of the residents’ enthusiasm and support. The murals are a product of the community and they belong to the community.

Lastly, the team that coordinated the project hopes that the goodwill and positive energy stirred up by the murals will inspire others to use their creative powers to improve their communities.