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You may have seen some of Yip Yew Chong's work in Chinatown.

Well, the 53-year-old mural artist is back at showcasing the Singapore way of life again, creating a 60m long painting depicting Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s which he's been working on since August 2021.

In his latest sneak peek to his followers, he showed the 21st panel of his painting – a funeral at a Housing and Development Board (HDB) void deck.

The funeral panel

The 21st panel features a wake at a HDB void deck, with crowds of people standing and paying their respects, funeral wreaths at the corner, and a table of guests playing cards.

Above the funeral scene, some residents are hanging their laundry to dry outside their window.

There is also an old-time playground with a sand pit in the painting.

There's even a saman aunty writing up a warning slip for a car parked below the block.

While there's a lot happening in one painting, the funeral is the centrepiece of the panel.

Yip said that this panel is "probably the most taboo scene" of the entire 60m painting.

He added that it's not common for artists to create art featuring funerals because people are unlikely to buy it.

But he wanted to add this scene as he believes it's an integral part of the Singaporean way of life.

In his Facebook post, he recalled a friend from Hong Kong telling him that she didn’t understand why Singaporeans held wakes at the void decks.

This is because she felt that the event was "too close to homes and too scary".

While he agrees, void decks are also used for other purposes:

"We use them for many other activities too, like Weddings, Tae Kwan Do classes, play street soccer (illegally), and even mural paintings (see last pics) - true Singaporean way of life."

Other panels

Yip has completed 21 of 27 panels so far and aims to complete them all by early 2023.

His 20th panel depicts a view of the Geylang area in the mid-1980s.

There's a Geylang Serai flat where the fictional residents are drawn watching the Malaysia cup, eating dinner, cooking having their prayers and resting.

There's even a glimpse of the National Stadium in the background.

He also completed a painting of Pulau Tekong, where the Basic Military Training Centre is located. 

More on the mural artist

All images courtesy of Yip Yew Chong/FB.