SINGAPORE, Nov 25 — Very few homegrown contemporary artists have the honour of being a household name in Singapore. One of them is Samantha Lo, the Sticker Lady or SKLO, known to many as the spunky young street artist who got in trouble with the law in 2012 for her socially satirical works such as spray painting the words “My Grandfather Road” on Telegraph Street.

This year, the Sticker Lady has returned to the streets. This time with the necessary permits, of course.

Earlier this month (November 5), Lo etched out her largest “My Grandfather Road” — spanning some 180m — in chalk on Circular Road for Circular Spectacular, a multi-disciplinary extravaganza, as part of Singapore River Festival 2016.

In a sit-down interview with TODAY, Lo, 30, describes this project as her way of working around the system. “In 2012, the reason a lot of people know what I did was because I got arrested. Doing this again, people will think: Aren’t you afraid of being arrested? (But) I’m actually going around it.”

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Lo continued: “Because I got the permit to do it, it seems a bit more legit but the act of putting something on the surface is also still very iffy.”

“I would say going around it because I am still putting something on the road, but it’s not permanent,” she added, referring to the chalk she used for her work on Circular Road compared to the permanent spray paint she used in 2012.

“It was like revisiting an old friend, since the road was going to be closed anyway (for the event). It was really nice to do a comeback, saying hi to this old piece of mine and instead of a one-to-two-metre-long stencil, we could cover the whole road.”

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Lo said she wanted to challenge herself as an artist with this project.

“Every artist wants to push their boundaries a bit more. Ever since 2012, after the arrest, everyone thought that would be the end of it. But I always felt there was something very important in that statement ‘My Grandfather Road’.”

Samantha Lo, otherwise known as the Sticker Lady or SKLO, hard at work for her largest ‘My Grandfather Road’ which was etched in chalk at Circular Road for ‘Circular Spectacular.’ — Picture courtesy of the artist via TODAY
Samantha Lo, otherwise known as the Sticker Lady or SKLO, hard at work for her largest ‘My Grandfather Road’ which was etched in chalk at Circular Road for ‘Circular Spectacular.’ — Picture courtesy of the artist via TODAY

Lo went on to hold her first solo exhibition, the LIMPEH Show, at the Substation last year, which comprised a tongue-in-cheek portrait series of the late Lee Kuan Yew inspired by American street-artist Shepard Fairey’s iconic Obey poster.

“Even though I said bye to (my past street art) last year during my solo exhibition, I felt you know what, this is still important to say. In a time where everything feels like it’s being taken away and changed, this statement itself gives everyone a sense of ownership over their surroundings, and something as simple as ‘My Grandfather Road’ is a local term and makes us feel connected to the space.”

Also famous for her “Press Until Shiok” and “Anyhow Paste Kena Fine” traffic-light stickers, Lo’s second upcoming exhibition in January next year continues this vein of revisiting her past. On display at the exhibition will be photographs of socially satirical stickers she has gone around pasting in public spaces in the last few months. Along with the exhibition, she will be launching a photography book.

Having never used photography before, she admitted that turning to this form of visual documentation is her way of making up for the transient nature of her work, especially since she is using less permanent methods such as chalk and stickers these days.

She would not reveal if she removes the stickers from the public spaces after taking the photographs, insisting on leaving it up to the audience’s imagination. Certainly, this is another way the young artist has chosen to work around the system.

“That is the beauty of it, when people know what I used to do and they see a photo of this sticker there (on an MRT train wall), the first thing they are going to say is ‘oh my God, she is back at it again’, but the thing is, it’s a photograph, it shows it is there but doesn’t indicate if it is still there or removed,” Lo explained.

Aside from her street art, Lo also runs a social initiative known as The Barter Market, a collective effort between local makers, craftsmen, artists, musicians and skilled individuals in the community where no monetary transactions are involved, only an exchange of goods and services.

Held at Objectifs during Singapore Night Festival 2016 as well as the aforementioned Circular Extravaganza, she hopes for the market to create avenues for “an organically progressive society”.

Lo clearly remains hopeful about her place as an artist in Singapore. Even though she has travelled and worked on urban art projects overseas, she still sees Singapore as her home. This is a place where she wants to live and create art, because her work “has more relevance here in the local context than anywhere else in the world”. — TODAY