Priscilla's diary

P-Diary an interesting 365 etchings by Priscilla Wong and now showing at the Substation Gallery, was an interesting study into a young ladies mind. These etchings mostly with Mandarin writings come with English translations that you borrow at the gallery. The cute literal translations add to the humour and wit of P.
While reading her various food escapades you actually get a taste of what a young single woman’s life in Singapore is like. You read about her food trials, her happiness over the fact that Universal is now going to be in Singapore or how desolate she can feel on Valentine’s Day. Like most women, she deals with menstruation and PMS with satire. A young lady, who has her life compartmentalized otherwise, lets us in into her emotional world of etchings. The graphic description of things and people make it a witty read. Yet at the same time her fears are dealt in a child like manner as when she makes her sisters fibroid illness a ‘monster that deserves to be kicked’. You learn about her Japanese boy friend that appears every now and then, in her etchings, as mirthful time spent together either on a holiday or when he is visiting. These are the times you actually see a much lighter mood in her etchings. My Nine year old who was with me while we were at the gallery was happy to see “YH” her friend manning the exhibition. She pointed out he had the same blazer on, as he had on in one of the drawings. One gets an immense Singapore flavor through her etchings and can almost see Singapore drift by in the 365 days through these drawings.
What Priscilla has done is she has created a whole new genre through her diary of illustrations which she maintains via her blog http: prissydiary.blogspot.com She has created a new medium of expression and I am not surprised is showing in the right place for experimental art i.e. The Substation. In future we can expect to see her in print form when a publisher probably buys the rights to her illustrations and brings it to our home, for a lazier read on the couch.