Animated in monochrome, Zi Xi led the way to a coffee place. “It’s quite good,” she chirped while we followed her and took our seats. Her eyes widened as she opened her sketchbook and her pen – it clicked, like our shutter did earlier in the day whilst photographing – there was an underlining commonality from the very start. “So tell me more about yourselves,” she said as she wrote the words ‘ The Unusual Suspects ‘ on the top of the page. We took a sip of coffee, full and tangy Singaporean flavour – it was good.

With this collaboration project, we photographed people close to us and Zi Xi illustrated over them, projecting hypothetical worlds onto the photographs based on personal experiences or – how we perceive the subjects. Having to share with her our honest inner-workings; we all got to know each other a little more, as a unit. This was translated from a couple of descriptions and quotes from each person, handwritten in Zi Xi’s sketch book that have transformed to the pieces you see today.

Creative projects rarely ever give us such vast freedom to experiment. After printing the works the illustration began around the characters, it was here the magic happened- Darren was blessed with the gift of a beard he always wanted and became a kung fu foot soldier, Charlie was presented as a songbird in a nest of music notes, Yanda’s gaze melted the floor into a pool of paddle-pop colors, Kathy finally could ride an elephant in all its psychedelic glory, Kay Lii had corgis running circles around her, Cheryl became a chef and Charlene was encapsulated in a dreamy bubble. In true collaborative spirit, Zi Xi occasionally sent over shots of the works in progress, which brought much as much laughter as it did catharsis. This was our most fun project to date.

A great pick-us-up – ‘Of Friends and Family’ was our perfect ‘cuppa’.

‘Of Friends and Family’ is part of ‘The Unusual Suspects’ Exhibition at –

Mad Nest
378/380 East Coast Road, Singapore 428986
Tel: 63486861

(above) How KayLii- I Dream of Corgi’s

Yanda – Mysterious Skin

Kathy Anne Lim – The Paper Elephant

Darren Lee – Foot Soldier

Charlene Kuah – A Bubble Apocalypse

Charlie Lim – Bird on the Wire

Cheryl Lee – Cooking Dreams

Zi Xi’s moniker is MESSYMSXI, to view more works visit her site – here
To view more of Shentonista click – here