It is fashion season in May, with many local tertiary institutions staging runways for their fashion graduands. Behind the glitz and glamour though, there is much to be done.

The dazzling collections of LASALLE’s final year BA(Hons) Fashion Design and Textiles students are in the spotlight – one for its celebration of Singapore’s hawker culture by Ng Jia Min, and another for its focus on sustainability by Sandy Ong. Both graduands discuss more about the inspiration behind their garments in this article.

For many LASALLE graduands, the road to an education in the performing arts has not always been a straightforward one. As our students prepare for their graduating performances in their final year, they look back on the different paths that brought them here, and the lessons learned in juggling the concerns of pursuing an arts education in contemporary Singapore. Shahirah, Danial and Afiq share more about their respective journeys as well as their plans for the future, post-graduation.

A graduate from LASALLE's BA(Hons) Fine Arts Programme, Michael Koh is the founder of high-end jewellery brand Caratell, which counts neighbouring royalty among its clientele and has an annual turnover of more than $5 million. It has been a long road to success for him as he struggled in school when he was younger due to undiagnosed dyslexia and ended up dropping out.

LASALLE BA(Hons) Fine Arts Programme Leader Hazel Lim is one of several artists in Singapore who uses paper as a main subject in her artwork, despite it often being regarded as a 'lesser' medium. While working with paper has often been considered more of a craft than a fine art, these artists are elevating paper to a new level through their works, showing that paper is not just a material to be painted or drawn on.

From early April to end May, almost 900 graduating students’ works will be up for public and industry viewing as part of LASALLE College of the Arts’ annual graduation showcase. Developed over the course of a student’s final year, The LASALLE Show represents the culmination of their artistic journey, as well as the manifestation of their dreams and passions. For the creative industries in Singapore, The LASALLE Show serves as a barometer of the state of contemporary arts and design, and the emerging practices of young artists. 

Electronic music student Mohammad Fairuz Ramlan has created an interactive musical instrument which can produce a variety of sounds, by integrating electronic parts with discarded materials. His instrument is featured in the MeshMinds 2.0 : ArtxTechForGood exhibition, which spotlights works that fuse art and technology in working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Where do lost things go? What happens to recovered possessions that never get reunited with their owners? Fyerool Darma's art installation in Lost and found: imagining new worlds traces the journey of these lost and found items, and in so doing, asks questions about our own journeys and losses.

Lost and found: imagining new worlds is showing from 2 February – 10 April 2019 at Gallery 1, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, LASALLE College of the Arts.

In its second edition this year, MeshMinds 2.0: ArtxTechforGood features artworks that use technology to highlight environmental concerns. One of the featured artworks is by LASALLE student Yashini Renganathan, whose 3D-printed artwork makes visible the problem of light pollution in Singapore, a serious though often overlooked matter. The rest of the artworks in the exhibit fuse art and technology to create immersive environments that help visitors understand the intangible effects of environmental issues from a unique perspective. Read on to find out more!

Several artworks by local veteran artist and LASALLE Fine Arts Senior Lecturer Salleh Japar are featured in STILL, an exhibit currently showing at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore. A collaboration with fellow lecturer Joanne Pang, together with students from the School of Design Communication, Salleh's works investigate the Malay-Muslim identity through contemporary artworks that date back to the 1990s.