Mohamed Latiff Mohamed (b. 20 March 1950, Singapore– ) is a prolific poet and writer in Singapore’s Malay literary scene. A teacher by training, he is best known for his works about the struggles of the Malay community in post-independence Singapore. A three-time ...

Yip Cheong Fun (b. 1903, Hong Kong–d. 16 September 1989, Singapore), or “Old Man Yip”, was one of Singapore’s top pioneer photographers. In his lifetime, he received more than 50 worldwide photography awards. In 1980, he was named by the Photographic Society of ...

Lim Tze Peng (林子平) (b. 28 September 1921, Singapore–) is an artist, and a winner of the Cultural Medallion in 2003. Self-taught, Lim started painting in the 1950s when he was a teacher in Xin Min School. Having a strong foundation in Chinese philosophy, art and ...

Chua Ek Kay (b. 1947, Guangdong, China–d. 8 February 2008, Singapore) was an artist who is known for bridging Eastern and Western art. He was the first Chinese-ink painter to win the United Overseas Bank Painting of the Year Award in 1991. Chua trained under Singaporean ...

Tan Swie Hian (b. 5 May 1943, Pulau Halang, Indonesia–) is a multidisciplinary Singaporean artist known for his poetry, novels, paintings, calligraphy and sculptures. A highly esteemed artist, Tan has received multiple accolades both locally and internationally ...

Neo Chee Keong (b. 1960, Singapore–), popularly known as Jack Neo, is an actor, emcee and filmmaker. He was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 2005 for his achievements in filmmaking. One of Neo’s early films, Money No Enough (1998), is one of Singapore’s highest ...

Abdul Ghani Abdul Hamid (b. 13 April 1933, Singapore–d. 13 April 2014, Singapore) was an award-winning writer, poet and artist. Writing primarily in Malay, A. Ghani Hamid, as he was commonly known, had hundreds of poems, short stories, essays, newspaper articles ...

Haresh Sharma (b. 1965, Singapore–) is the resident playwright of The Necessary Stage, Singapore. A critically-acclaimed playwright known for his socially-conscious plays, he has written more than 100 plays that have been staged in Singapore and abroad, such as ...

David Lim Kim San (b. 7 May 1933, Singapore–) has a diverse career in music which spanned over four decades, including educator, administrator, producer, advocate, vocalist and conductor. Lim’s contribution to the school band and choral movements began in the 1960s ...

Kuo Pao Kun (b. 1939, Xiaoguo village, Hebei, China–d. 10 September 2002, Singapore) was a playwright who produced plays in both English and Chinese. He is considered one of the most significant dramatists in Singapore and a pioneer of Singapore theatre. Many of ...

Foo Tee Jun (b. 15 December 1935, Singapore–) is a highly regarded and artistically distinguished salon photographer. His involvement with professional photography began in 1963. Over the years, Foo perfected his skills and experimented with various darkroom techniques ...

Phan Wait Hong (潘月红) (b. 1914, Shanghai, China–d. 1 September 2016, Singapore) is a key figure in the history of Beijing opera in Singapore. She came to Singapore from Shanghai at the age of 14 and rose to become a lead actress in a professional company that toured ...

Muhammad Ariff Ahmad (b. 6 December 1924, Singapore–23 March 2016, Singapore), also known as Mas, was an award-winning writer, editor and lecturer. A founding member of the Malay literary club, Angkatan Sasterawan ’50 (Asas ’50), he was a prominent expert and activist ...

Ng Eng Teng (b. 12 July 1934, Singapore–d. 4 November 2001, Singapore) was a sculptor and winner of the Cultural Medallion in visual arts in 1981. He learned painting under first-generation masters such as Georgette Chen and Liu Kang, and furthered his studies ...

Leong Yoon Pin (b. 5 August 1931, Singapore–d. 13 April 2011, Singapore) was a composer, conductor and educator. Described as the doyen of Singapore composers, Leong was well known for his choral compositions, many of which were locally commissioned and performed ...

Sculptor Han Sai Por (b. 19 July 1943, Singapore – ) is well-known for her sculptures carved in stone, bringing to life figurative forms and organic shapes to hefty granite blocks. She has exhibited her works internationally in Southeast Asia, China, South Korea, ...

Chng Seok Tin (b. 6 October 1946, Singapore–d. 6 September 2019, Singapore) was a multiple award-winning artist whose works have been widely showcased in Singapore and abroad. Between 1977 to 2019, she held over 30 solo and 138 group exhibitions. She pursued her ...

Paul Selvaraj Abisheganaden (b. 27 March 1914, Penang, Straits Settlements–d. 31 August 2011, Singapore) was a musician and conductor, who was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1986. Born in Penang, Abisheganaden came to Singapore in 1916 at the age of two, when ...

Dave Chua Hak Lien (b. 1970, Malaysia –), author of the novel Gone Case, was the recipient of the Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award in 1996. He had been the joint winner of the SPH-NAC (Singapore Press Holdings-National Arts Council) Golden Point Award ...

Cyril Wong Yit Mun (b. 1977, Singapore–) is an award-winning poet and writer. He clinched the National Arts Council’s (NAC) Young Artist Award in 2005 and is a two-time winner of the Singapore Literature Prize (2006; joint winner for 2016) for English poetry. Wong ...