Nagore Durgha Shrine at Boon Tat Street

Singapore is a big melting pot and in this Chinatown area at the corner of Boon Tat Street and Telok Ayer Street, you will not only find the oldest Chinese temple which I did a sketch here but also a mosque, a Methodist church and an Indian shrine which I visited this week after work.

The shrine was built by the Muslims of southern India in 1828–1830 at Telok Ayer Street which was then a sandy beach crowded with sailing craft. The Nagore Durgha Shrine was gazetted a National Monument in 1974. The architectural features of the building blends classical and Indian Muslim motifs.

The weather was so hot and humid that I had two big icy apple smoothie drinks and sat outside the drink stall comfortably while experimenting with watercolours, brush pen and watercolour paper that already collaged with gesso, colour tissue papers, paper pulp and blue acrylic paint. Using a brush pen to draw on a collage was a new technique for me and I found it very liberating and refreshing.

To simplify the motifs, I find it very therapeutic to add so many dots on the building with the brush pen.