Pok Pok & Away

TABLE OF CONTENTS RESUME Pg. 4 - 5

MAKAN

Food & Culture Pg. 6 - 25

Kueh Pg. 10 - 13

Mrs Lee & Shermay Pg. 20 - 21

Tracing Goldleaf Pg. 22 - 25

MEMORIES

Peta Singapura

Pg. 26 - 47

Singapura Images

Nostalgia & Discovery

Pg. 30 - 33 Pg. 34 - 47

SAYANG SINGAPURA Re-imagining Landscapes Pg.48 - 55

ARMY DAZE

NS and Humour Pg. 56 - 75

When Encik Is Not Around Pg. 62 - 65

SAF Day Pg. 66 - 75

THE AIR FORCE

Experiments and Aviation Pg. 76 - 85

NATIONAL

Vision and Dreams Pg. 86 - 97

NDP’14

Pg.88 - 89

NDP’ 15 Pg.90

Ayam Brand SG50 Pg.91

R.I.P LKY Pg.92 - 97

MAPS

Landscape, Landmarks Pg. 98 - 109

Kampong Glam Pg.100 - 101

Little India Pg.102 - 103

Changi

Pg.104 - 105

Nanyang Technological University Pg.106 - 107

Singapore Polytechnic Pg.107 - 109

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LEE XIN LI

FREELANCE ILLUSTRATOR EDUCATION NANYANG JUNIOR COLLEGE 2007 - 2010 | Singapore Art Elective Programme

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2010 - JUNE 2014 | Singapore Bachelor of Arts (Architecture)

HONORS & AWARDS 25th UOB Painting of the Year | 2006 Distinction

Istana Art Event : On-The-Spot-Art Competition | 2007 Second Place (Open Category)

British Council Digital Art Competition on the Environment | 2007 Gold Award

Singapore Youth Festival | 2008 Actio et Reacti, Gold

Wacom Asia Pacific Lifestyle Art Contest | 2007 Gold Award

National Day Parade 2014 : Funpack Print Design Contest | 2014 Winning Design

Ayam Brand SG50 Contest | 2014

Winning Design / National Service Memories (SAFRA Open Category)

Buddy Bear Design Competition : 50 Years of Singapore-Germany Friendship | 2014 Second Prize

National Day Parade 2015 : Funpack Print Design Competition | 2015 Winning Design

EXHIBITIONS Bukit Brown | Our Roots, Our Future (2013)

co-organized by All Things Bukit Brown and the Chui Huay Lim Club from 29th June - 7th July 2013.

Avenue 1960s | Stories of Live, Laugh, Love in Singapore (2014)

organized by final year Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information students and held at the Arts House.

Lokal Heroes | Arise, You Champions of Singapore (2014)

organized by Splash Productions at the Lowercase at La Salle College of the Arts.

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MEDIA & PUBLICATION 中國報 | 李欣立漫畫繪長官 | Jul 2013 灵感日报 | Lee Xin Li 作品 | October 2013 Culturepush | Spotted! Lee Xin Li | 16th October 2013 CreativeRoots | Singapore illustrations through the eye’s of Lee Xin Li | 18th November 2013 Obscured | Building Memories | 14th January 2014 The Humans of Singapore | Nostalgic Singapore | 27th January 2014 Lianhe Zaobao / 联合早报 | 地图上的德光岛 忽隐忽现400年 | 13th April 2014 The New Paper | Mapping Out Singapore | 28th July 2014 The Business Times | Taking local designs global | 6th August 2014 Connexion.sg | More than just the “kueh guy” | 12th August 2014 Localliz.com (HKG) | Over the Moon! Your Illustrated Guide to Mooncakes | 8th September 2014 Design Singapore | Better Shop : Cat Socrates | 23rd September 2014 Channel 8 晨光第一线 | 画纸重现旧时光 | October 2014 Readymade Journal | Illustrator : Lee Xin Li | 20th October 2014 Lianhe Wanbao / 联合晚报 | 年轻人’旧’是喜欢自创品牌找回小时候| December 2014 Air Force News | Issue 131 | 2nd December 2014 Challenge | Remembering Lee Kuan Yew | 24th March 2015 Lianhe Wanbao / 联合晚报 | 已消失建筑地标国大生以画还原| March 2015 Matilda | Volume 2 : Terrarium | April 2015 Ng Eng Hen - Defence Minister | Local artist 2SG (NS) Lee Xin Li | 17th April 2015 Esquire Singapore | Shades of Reverence | May 2015 Army News | Pok Pok & Away : Stories through Illustrations | May 2015

EXPERIENCE Freelance Illustrator 2013 - Present PROJECTS :

Hong San See : Singapore Lam Ann Association | June 2014

Map illustration for Hong San See, a heritage landmark awarded with the Award of Excellence in the 2010 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

Tourism50 : Reminisce | January 2014

Illustrations for the Tourism50 campaign, organized by the Singapore Tourism Board to celebrate 50 years of tourism development and promotion in Singapore since 1964.

Singapore Maritime Week 2014 | April 2014

Character illustrations for the Singapore Maritime Week exhibition held at VivoCity organized by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.

Graphic Designer | Learning & Development Resources (LDR) Pte Ltd Jan 2010 - July 2011

Contributed to the illustrations used in LearnNet, a digital learning system used in Basic Military Training Centre, Singapore Did maps for heritage trails, covering areas like Kampong Glam, Changi, Little India and Chinatown.

Platoon Sergeant | Basic Military Training Centre School 2 April 2008 - February 2010

Received the Division Coin presented by the Commander 9th Division Chief Infantry Officer.

Intern | Kng & Urbanists Pte Ltd October 2007 - December 2007

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MAKAN

CULTURE, SHAPES, FORMS, IDENTITY

ON BOARD THE RSS ENDURANCE 207 Miles away from the shores of Singapore, this seemingly modest plate of nasi lemak brings a taste of home for the sailors on-board, some going on stints that last as long as half a year. Food is a reflection of who we are and what makes us.

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The Galley (kitchen) of RSS Endurance 207

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ć‰“ĺŒ… [ ta bao ]

Zeno Group Singapore The brief given by the client was to draw various local food in different packaging such as the brown paper or styrofoam boxes.

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吐司

[ toasts of the town ] Zeno Group Singapore Used by Lonely Planet x Singapore Tourism Board in their presentation annoucing Singapore as the No.1 country for travel in 2015. Kaya Toast is picked as the local element to showcase Singapore’s food and culture.

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MRS LEE & SHERMAY Black Design x Shermay’s Cooking School The brief is to paint a portrait from the existing photographs of Mrs. Lee Chin Koon (also known as Madam Chua Jim Neo) and her grand-daughter, Shermay Lee which would be used as a tag on their Cilicuka jars.

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金葉餐廳 GOLDLEAF RESTAURANT - Since 1971 -

RETRACING GOLDLEAF Goldleaf New Taiwanese Porridge Goldleaf New Taiwanese Porridge Restaurant has a history going back to the 1970s when it started at along Orchard Road near the former Le Meridien Hotel. The owner mentioned that they have no images of their old establishment except for a blurry painting on the back of their namecards.

Interested in their history, I did a research through the National Archives and old photographs such as those taken by Lee Kip Lin to imagine and construct how the restaurant would have looked like in the 1970s along Orchard Road before the shophouses were demolished.

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TABULA RASA Two wells is what remained of the former thriving Kampong Selabin on the island of Pulau Tekong.

The exponential rate of change in Singapore’s landscape constantly creates doubts of my memories of the home I grew up in. Illustrations provides a way to tackle this disparity.

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MEMORIES NOSTALGIA, HERITAGE, DISCOVERY

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BUKIT BROWN The once lush vegetation surrounding the gates of Bukit Brown disappeared in a matter of a few years as work proceed for the construction of a road across this historic cemetery.

Change is constant in Singapore.

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PETA SINGAPURA Individual Work This work originally started off as a visual re-tracing of my trip to Europe in May 2014. A friend then wondered if Singapore has anything of interest for a map like the Europe piece I did.

Therefore, I started tracing back some of the places with sentimental value : Pulau Tekong, Neo Tiew etc and over the process, it is a re-discovery of Singapore’s history, architecture, culture, nature etc.

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Former Kallang Airport | State of 35 Limbo

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SINGAPURA IMAGES Individual Work The Singapura Images is a series of works that begun in 2013, where I re-imagined various landscapes in Singapore. I was largely influenced by the comics I read when I was a child, in particularly Georges Prosper Remi‘s (otherwise known as Herge) Adventures of Tin Tin. In other forms, such as the Bukit Brown and Tekong posters, they were inspired by vintage travel posters.

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SAYANG

SINGAPURA ON THE DESCENT HOME As a frequent traveller, I always experienced a warm fuzzy feeling when the plane approaches Changi International Airport, the sight of the Singapore skyline and ships off the coast meant that I am coming home. What has changed since we last met?

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SAYANG SINGAPURA Published by Marshall Cavendish The Singapura Images eventually led to a compilation of drawings, each a re-imagination of a landscape of Singapore. Over the process, I get to know more about Singapore once agan and re-tracing the story of each landscape in my own terms and memory.

The book was a visual autobiography of some sorts, tracing the beginning of my motivations back to the shock and reaction in my NS days when I revisited Neo Tiew and witnessed the tabula rasa of Pulau Tekong as well as the transformaton of Seletar.

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The former National Library, opened its doors in 1960 by Singapore’s first president Yusof bin Ishak. In a visit of the site of the former library, the UOB Painter of the Year, Alvin Ong, pointed out where different parts of the library used to be : the courtyard, the food stall and the two gates etc.

The national landmark was demolished in 2005 for a tunnel.

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ARMY DAZE HUMOUR, TEKONG, NS

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TRAINING SHED 203 This was formerly used as a training ground for M203. Stories such as these were passed down from my enciks to us. National Service was dreadful for some but for me, it was a totally new experience and in the bigger picture, it is quintessential element of what makes of Singapore with the shared memories and encounters across generations, race, education and income.

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LANDSCAPES OF

PULAU TEKONG Individual Works Pulau Tekong is a beautiful island hidden away from the public. This is a series of digital paintings of some of the landscapes on the island.

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WHEN

ENCIK IS NOT

AROUND Shhhh....!

Even in a serious and regimented environment within the armed forces, there are moments of mischief and lightheartedness when a figure of authority is out for a moment. The series is inspired by that moment, wuxia and martial arts.

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WHEN

ENCIK 不在

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NATIONAL SERVICE SINCE 1967

Individual Work National Service was introduced to Singapore in 1967 with the first registration taking place on 28th March 1967. SAF Day was then introduced in 1st July 1969 to commemorate the loyalty and commitment of the servicemen and servicewomen to the SAF and the nation. Nonetheless, I also see it as a day to commemorate the contributions of not only people from the SAF but also from SCDF and SPF as well.

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THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

AIR FORCE PLANES< EXPERIMENTS, STYLES, AVIATION

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ABOVE ALL Individual Works The air force is a subject which fascinates me a lot as I share a deep interest in aviation. Hence, it is a common subject matter for my experimentation of visual styles from Hergeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tin Tin comics to the Pipboy from Fallout.

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NATIONAL VISION AND DREAMS

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OUR PEOPLE AND OUR

WILL TO ACHIEVE Contest Entry / NDPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;14 This was quite an impromptu piece of work that I did for the National Day Parade 2014 Funpack Contest. There were three themes, the other two being Progression towards a Global City and Strong Community/ Family Spirit.

The first image that came to my mind was climbing and rappelling with a rock climbing wall with parts motifs of say a shophouse or coffeeshop I scrapped that idea and slowly it became an assembly of buildings in Singapore such as part of an SIT flat, the ex-National Theatre, a figment of the former National Library and the Arts Science Museum.

The idea was to show that on-going progression in Singapore that is the result of several generations worth of effort which serves as a testimony to the Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will to achieve over the ages from all walks of life.

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THE LITTLE RED PLANE Contest Entry / NDPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;15 I was particularly drawn to the child rides that I enjoyed as a kid. In this piece, I picture two kids on plane with their own Singapore flag, and they are the future of this nation that has been through a lot, what made Singapore today and tomorrow is the product of these minds, aspirations, ideas and imagination from the people who built Singapore.

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AYAM BRAND

SG50

Contest Entry When I was young, I look forward to going to the playground to play tick tack toe, the slide and get dirty with the sand. I seldom see playgrounds with sand nowadays. When I grew up and got enlisted, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;playgroundâ&#x20AC;? is the Standard Obstacles Course (SOC) ground and the low rope station left a lasting memory for me during my National Service days, being able to clear it and seeing the recruits clear it made me realized the passing of generations.

Singapore is country made of all these little personal memories across generations which reflects a very rich intimate history when I listen to my parents or elders reminisce about Singapore in the past including some long gone national landmarks like the National Theatre.

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R.I.P LKY

COMMONWEALTH CLOSE ESTATE

23rd March 2015 marked the passing of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, a larger than life figure in Singapore. This series of works was a personal reflection of his passing and the reaction towards his passing.

The photographer, Larry Burrows from LIFE Magazine is a war photographer who was known for several of his photographs of Lee Kuan Yew including the iconic photograph of a jubilant Lee Kuan Yew at the Commonwealth Close Estate.

The photographer is better known for his coverage of the Vietnam War. He died in a helicopter crash in Laos during the war.

Lee Kuan Yew at Commonwealth Close (May 1965), Larry Burrows

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A Legacy. A Post-LKY Era. / 2015 As the State Funeral approaches, I think one of the images that would remain in my memory for a long time are the images of the Gun Carriage Funeral Procession from the intermittent CNA live stream on the morning of 25th March 2015 (UTC+08:00) while working in studio.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force Black Knights were planning to fly in a Missing Man Formation over City Hall and Supreme Court as Mr. Lee Kuan Yewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cortege goes past these historic grounds which has witnessed the announcement of the Japanese Surrender by Lord Mountbatten in 1945, the Merger in 1963 and countless National Day Parades since 1966.

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*29th March 2015 may be a rainy day and the RSAF had not been able to perform the aerial salute but the downpour has evoked memories of the 1968 National Day Parade for some and perhaps would be of equal significance for all who attended, watched and participated in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s State Funeral.

I was seeking closure after the previous drawing until the RSAF approached me to do one more piece of work, seeing the historical significance in the subject and urged by a couple of friends, I reluctantly agreed.

This is dedicated to Singapore and to the pioneers who helped

build Singapore, many of whom have walked the grounds of the Padang or the City Hall like our ah kong and ah mas and our leaders including Mr. Lee Kuan Yew and Dr.Goh Keng Swee, both of whom have played a part in the establishment of the Singapore Air Defence Command (todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the RSAF) in the late 1960s - 1971.

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MAPS

LANDSCAPES, LANDMARKS LDR & SINGAPORE POLY

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A visual recount of the a trip in Japan in 2014 with a map.

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LITTLE INDIA HERITAGE TRAILS BY LDR PTE LTD.

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CHANGI

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NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY 107

SINGAPORE POLYTECHNIC 108

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