What does a community for mothers look like in the Singaporean context? You might imagine support groups that discuss postpartum blues, the dreaded PSLE, or the best deals around town. Tucked within the YWCA compound on Outram Road, however, is a large, vibrant community of mothers brought together by a passion for one thing: art.
In 2018, new mother Alice Yu Yuebo started a personal blog, aiming to connect with like-minded, art-loving mothers and to explore how creativity could be a therapeutic tool during the overwhelming experience of motherhood. Over the years, Mama on Palette has grown beyond Yu’s blogspace into a thriving community of mothers passionate about art and mental wellness. The efforts of Yu and the community have borne great fruit: Mama on Palette has flourished to have around 300 active members partaking in a garden of offerings from art exhibitions to sharing sessions, workshops, and more. It has also exhibited works at various locations across Singapore, including Design Orchard and the Central Public Library.
It is within this rich context that the Reborn: Motherhood exhibition takes place during Singapore Gallery Month. This group showcase features 16 mother-artists whose works were chosen by a panel of independent judges including art professionals, collectors, and community leaders. Running until 28 September 2024, the exhibition is split into four weeks, each with a colour theme like blue, purple, or pink. Every week, the previous week’s works are switched out to reflect the next colour theme.
As I enter the cosy space, I immediately notice shades of blue and pink, indicating the theme for the week. The works, which hug the right wall, are saturated with these two colours, save for one large work solely in white and placed squarely in the middle. A foil, perhaps, to the vivid pieces flanking it, allowing visitors to pause and contemplate the absence of colour in between. I read the captions to find out that the exhibiting artists for the week are Ayda Aip, Bhagyalaxmi (Bhagya) Rao, Kaelie Kwah, Novelisa Delima, and Ashwini Krishnamurthy — some of whom I’ll be speaking with today.
Aesthetics of the everyday, reborn
A few of the works on show express the quiet yet transcendent beauty of everyday life. Both of Ayda Aip’s works (Orbs of Light and Atlantis) are acts of prayer: crystals and gemstones are ritualistically embedded in the paintings, physical manifestations of the daily practices of care and spirituality ingrained into her current days. Next to Aip’s works, light trips over meticulously crafted geometric paper forms in Kaelie Kwah’s Life as we know it, casting repetitive shadows that every so often give way to small ruptures. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it manner, tiny crystals peek through the fissures, suggesting the subtle joys Kwah finds in the ups and downs of life’s routines.
As Kwah, who is also my guide through the exhibition, explains these works to me, I start to glean small insights into the artists’ domestic lives and labour. These are idiosyncratic ways in which they, as mothers, inhabit quiet spaces like the home, which are often regarded as mundane. Yashika Aggarwal, another exhibiting artist, echoes this sentiment by remarking that she captures bits of herself through her daily painting process which “becomes like a diary, like a story of [her] life.”
For these artists, then, it seems that art and mothering are twinned practices, both related to the experience of the everyday.
Rediscovering the self
The theme of rebirth is woven into the very origins of Mama on Palette. Yu tells me that her first impetus in building this community was the desire to recover her own self-identity after giving birth. She describes how the vision of the community has transformed since then: “I think the spirit that we want to encourage is that as a woman, as a mother, you deserve to have your own reserve, and you deserve to have your own passion. You shouldn’t be bound to a single identity as a mother or as a wife.”
Yu’s words are supported by the other artists present, as they reveal to me stories of leaving long-term careers to pursue their passion for art. Reconnecting with their dreams has allowed them to find their selfhood amidst a lifelong negotiation between the complexities of womanhood and motherhood.
Calm amidst chaos
For some of the artists, art is a way to both escape from life’s chaos and to reflect upon it. Babita Sridhar, whose work will be displayed under the red colour theme, tells me that “art is a space where [she] comes for calm in the chaos” — a space just for her. As she gives me a sneak peek of her painting and describes the total absorption she experiences during the creative process, I sense how art is a source of both euphoria and catharsis. Her artistic process is now her life philosophy: “With this artwork, I just went with my intuition, and the colours fell into place. It made me realise that, in principle, you can go with what happens and leave the outcome for whatever comes — because however it turns out, it’s good.”
Similarly, Bhagyalaxmi Rao notes that when she makes art, she is “present in the moment, enjoying the process.” Art also informs how she approaches life: “I’m forced to stop and just concentrate on the details of everything around me, because these details are what I bring into my works.” Her two pen and ink drawings Mother and Garlands indeed speak to an observant eye capturing motifs related to her heritage and personal history.
New life and hopes for the community
The Mama on Palette community is currently witnessing a new season, with Reborn: Motherhood as a keystone event highlighting this fresh beginning. It’s the first showcase in their new space at the YWCA building, which they moved into during June this year. Yu and the other artists I interview recognise that none of this would have been possible without the community coming together and pitching in. In particular, they point towards their extended community — that is, their families, who form the cornerstone of the work they do with Mama on Palette.
“We’re not a professional gallery [that] hire[s] contractors to set up — we use the community’s power,” Yu says. “It’s always heartwarming to see everyone, including the husbands and kids, help out, and they’re really our supporting pillars so that we can do the work that we do.”
For the artists, their families have been an important source of strength and growth. Rao recounts a childhood tale of how her mother, despite not having a personal interest in art, championed her daughter’s art to a teacher who did not believe in her talent. Aggarwal too says that her younger brother, who believed in her since her youth, was the push for her to switch careers and start making art.
At the same time, participating in these activities also allows the next generation to develop civic-mindedness and a community spirit. Kwah shares, “My kids love seeing me work. They even volunteer to help out by cutting the paper or cleaning up, and they really enjoy it.”
Ultimately, despite the challenges they face in their lives and in working on Mama on Palette projects, the artists’ message is one of strength, resilience, and hope for the future. Sridhar summarises this best when she quotes one of her inspirations, the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky:
“To live without hope is to cease to live.”
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Reborn: Motherhood runs at the YWCA Building on 254 Outram Road till 28 September 2024. Find out more at https://www.mamaonpalette.com/whats-on.
Header image: Back row, from left to right: Bhagyalaxmi Rao, Babita Sridhar, Kaelie Kwah, and Yashika Aggarwal. Front row, from left to right: Catherine Chua, Alice Yu Yuebo, and the author Mary Ann Lim.
