This week, in the lead up to our nation’s 50th birthday we bring you an exclusive series of portraits dedicated to our founding father Lee Kuan Yew. Yong's exclusive artwork for Harper's Bazaar Art took tissue paper as its medium—delicate, temporary, easily rent to pieces—and yet, the artist used this temporal medium to capture a lasting moment in Singapore's history. The artist explains his work below:
Frayn Yong Kian Ming, As Tears Goes By, ink on tissue, 2015
"This drawing attempts to frame the instance that Mr Lee teared on national TV over Singapore's separation from Malaysia. This work on tissue paper also highlights the struggle to exist during delicate situations."—as told to Harper's Bazaar Singapore.
To see more from our exclusive series, click here.
Harper's BAZAAR Art Digital edition is now available on Magzter.