For this oral, I chose Wena Poon’s ‘Development’ (short story) and Georgette Chen’s painting, ‘Malay Wedding’. One thing I did differently from the last practice IO was I avoided writing a script. Instead, I made the 10 bullet points I wanted to convey first, and then worked backwards. Although this strategy was unconventional for me, as someone who generally goes overtime and has a hard time cutting down on words, it definitely helped me prioritise the points that had to be conveyed.

I think this was a strength, and with the feedback I’ve received, it made me speak more fluently and I was able to look at my list of 10 points less frequently since I was familiar with it (having used it as the foundation for my ‘script’ since the beginning). I think this is a strategy I’ll use for my real IO.

One thing I need to work on is balancing between both texts. Often times I found myself referring back to points about text 1 while talking about text 2 that I had forgotten to include, which made my ideas slightly disorganised. In order to remember the order in which I want to introduce my ideas, I should try memorising key links/connections that tie specific points together, and help me speak in sequence.

Overall I think this practice helped me understand the expectations of this assessment, and the format it will be conducted in. I think, like all assessments, stress is a factor that I can’t fully prepare for. But I’ve understood that memorising a script wouldn’t be my chosen strategy. Instead I’ll focus on thoroughly understanding the points I want to include and why I want to convey them in that order.

Chosen text – obituary 

Sources used : Tommy Koh’s interview in The Straits Times

Renowned ‘global artist’ GEORGETTE CHEN, dies at age 86 in Singapore, after leaving behind a rich and beautiful legacy across the world

Georgette Chen (Chang Li Ying) was born in 1906, China, to a wealthy antique dealer with businesses in London, Paris, and New York. From a young age, Ms.Chen was set on pursuing art. Her artworks were influenced by the experiences and perspectives she obtained throughout her life, which coincided with both world wars and the Chinese revolutions. Ms.Chen’s first husband, Eugene Chen–acting foreign minister during Sun Yat Sen’s presidency–died as a prisoner of war in 1944 in Shanghai. In 1947, Ms.Chen married Ho Yung Chi. The couple moved to Penang in 1951, shortly before they divorced and parted ways.

Ms.Chen started a new chapter by moving to Singapore to teach at NAFA in 1953. Students and colleagues have spoken of Ms.Chen’s affinity for the Malay community, as many of the painting in the National Gallery exhibition showcase Malays, and she also learnt to speak the language. Singapore’s multiculturalism is what inspired Ms.Chen to use local scenery to develop her own painting style. The many friends she had, some that included her own students, support the claims regarding her friendly, social nature. During her time at NAFA, Ms.Chen lived through Singapore’s independence in 1965, and became a pioneer artist who is part of Singapore’s first-generation community, making her a prominent figure in the birth of Singapore’s culture and identity.

Ms.Chen passed away on 15th March, 1993, in Mount Alvernia Hospital. Ms.Chen’s estate was auctioned off, and her investments were sold off in shares and stocks. Her proceeds were distributed to worthy causes such as the Georgette Chen Arts Scholarship, community welfare projects for the Malay community, and a new building for the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations.

Despite leaving no heirs, Ms.Chen’s legacy will be carried forward, and she will forever be recognised as  a trailblazer of the Singapore art movement.

Memorial details:

Date : 16th March, 1993, 6pm

Thank you to the Straits Times, close friends of Georgette Chen, and the NAFA institution.

“Art to me is a labour of love and like such labours expects neither gain nor rewards and brings meaning into one’s life” – Georgette Chen

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Conventions :

• Length : I’ve noticed that obituaries are generally brief, perhaps because can take up a maximum portion of a newspaper, or because they only include factual/general information on the individual. Personal, emotive details and stories are used in the eulogies, which are longer.
• Formality/tone : In obituaries, the objective is to inform–as a form of respect–the audience, not limited to family/close friends, about someone’s death. As a result, the tone is generally formal and the deceased individual is referred to as their full name or Ms/Mr––. This contrasts a eulogy, or Tommy Koh’s interview, where individuals will be free to use their personal nicknames as a way of recollecting their relationships and memories with the person in an authentic, personal way.
• Background info – all obituaries include basic information such as year of birth, profession, marriages, family/children, etc
• Memorial – because obituaries are posted soon after the person’s death and shortly before the memorial, a public memorial might have the address/timing details written on the newspaper for the reader’s reference
• Photo – the photo of the deceased individual is generally one of them looking happy, and of a younger version of themselves from a while back, perhaps as a way to get people to reminisce about that person’s whole life, rather than just the end.
• Heading/titles- Especially in obituaries where the deceased individual is someone celebrated/significant, they are given a title to exemplify their impact and legacy. In this case, Chen was a crucial stakeholder in the becoming of Singapore’s culture and artistic identity, therefore I chose to use that as I crafted a name for her (Global artist, trailblazer)

 

This text is a brochure created by the National Gallery in Singapore, promoting Georgette Chen’s exhibit. Georgette Chen (1906-1993) was an artist who travelled/lived around the world before starting a new chapter in Singapore. Georgette Chen was an artist who lived through world war 1 and 2, as well as the Chinese revolution, and pioneered the ‘Nanyang’ style of art.

As she moved Singapore, after divorcing her second husband, she moved to Singapore when it was still a part of Malaysia. Chen’s life and experiences that are depicted in her artwork show the birth of Singapore’s culture through time. This brochure–although it explicitly presents information regarding Chen’s life and her artwork–implicitly represents Singapore as a multicultural capital by using Chen’s life as proof that Singapore’s culture is not only separate to their Malaysian history, but that it has existed for a long time.

Emphasising small details about Chen’s personality (As they mention she used to paint with her friends..) humanises her and creates common ground between the exhibit and viewer/reader. This widens the target audience. Instead of using artistic terminology and specifying art techniques/styles, they’ve highlighted Chen as a Singaporean individual. Her experience working at NAFA and teaching locals, contribute to this idea that Singapore played a significant role in Chen’s life and path to success as an artist. Yet in Chen’s artwork contains still-life scenery of people, nature, Singaporean fruits, instead of typical war scenes that Chen must have experienced during the global events she lived through. Additionally, during Chen’s career in Singapore, the initial stages of this city/state’s independence, the primary goal must have been economic development. But her work shows a different side of Singapore, the connected, diverse side. This might signify that, as Singapore is currently known as a hub for finance/technology/business, this is the ‘Singapore’ that people like Chen want to put a spotlight on. This brochure shows Chen as someone who presented Singapore as a cultural capital, instead of using the struggles and wars she lived through as an inspiration to her art, the local, ordinary scenes are what inspired her.

I think this text type contains a mixture of elements from eulogies and obituaries. What makes it different is how it was written years after the individual’s death, probably signifying that it represents the Chen’s long-lasting significance to this day. In terms of context, her work was prevalent in Singapore because of how it was multi-cultural and exhibited Singapore’s diverse population. But at the same time, her own life, having lived in and out of Asia, represents an amalgamation of cultures and values that she conveys through her work. I think the purpose of this text, like a Eulogy, serves to remember the individual and their impact. Like an obituary, it includes information on her life, her background, but diverts when it goes into depth on her personal life, relationships, and struggles. It could also serve as an opportunity to promote the exhibit as a cultural milestone for Singapore, as it exemplifies how she contributed and adopted Singaporean culture as she lived through the emergence of Singapore from Malaysia.