Chronicles of A Circuit Breaker by Joseph Chiang records the strangeness and mundanity of daily life during the trying months of Singapore’s lockdown from April to June 2020. Singaporeans would be familiar with the toilet paper shortage, the grocery stockpiling and coping with new social measures to adapt to this pandemic. Chiang’s slice-of-life stories provide not only the reality of the situation but also humour during these unprecedented times. His comics served as a reminder for many Singaporeans to just seize the day, once at a time and try to laugh in the face of adversity.
Now, from 1st to 15th May, Epigram and Mulan Studios have collaborated to showcase some of Chiang’s finest works. From relatable situations to witty ones and even some meaningful life lessons along the way. The exhibition requires visitors to make an RSVP prior to the date and time slot and each session is limited to 6 people. Visitors can make the booking here. Each session only lasts for about 30-minutes; latecomers of more than 10-minutes may not be permitted to enter. Additionally, the price to enter is free!
The exhibition itself displays a number of Chiang’s comic strips for visitors to view. There were humorous ones such as how people coped with working or studying from home to relatable ones such as forgetting to put on the mask when leaving the house. Though these moments are laughable now, visitors can catch themselves feeling some sort of annoyance when recalling such troubling times. Nonetheless, Singaporeans have managed to surpass this hurdle and now look back at these moments as milestones.
The exhibition also shares Joseph Chiang’s biography on how he is a Singapore-based, self-taught printmaker. He started drawing comics in the late 1990s but stopped to pursue printmaking. With a lot more time at hand during circuit breaker, Chiang got inspired from classic newspaper comic strips and used it to fuel his comic-drawing. This alone showed the beauty of circuit breaker. It provided people with a lot more time for themselves to discover or revisit hobbies that people once never had time for.
The exhibition concludes with a recap of eight one-liner lessons learnt from the circuit breaker experience. The nuggets of wisdom were insightful and gave a more positive outlook for the ongoing pandemic. It gave visitors a sense of hopefulness that tomorrow may be better.
An appropriate, insightful and entertaining exhibition for all ages. Visitors should definitely give this exhibition a visit. Though each session is capped at 6 visitors and 30-minutes, the exhibition is open for 7-hours for the next few days — this enables more visitors to grab at this wonderful opportunity. Finally, purchases for the comic book can be made here!
