From the late 1960s through the early 2000s, National Courtesy Campaigns—Singa the Courtesy Lion, Captain Green, Frog, Smiley—were a familiar part of daily life, promoting graciousness as Singapore built itself into a more pleasant society. Decades on, however, commuters increasingly snap and share photos of seat-hogging, vandalism, and littering, prompting many to ask: what happened to that spirit of kindness, and to the campaigns meant to instill it?

Please Lah! Singapore responds with a series of ceramic sculptures parodying these familiar courtesy mascots. Xin uses humour to look at how individuality, ethics, and social behaviour collide in everyday public life. One installation features domed figurines—commuters absorbed in their phones, newspapers, food—each sealed off from those around them, their surface markings suggesting bad manners spreading like a contagion. Another reimagines Singa the Lion seated comfortably, oblivious to the very seat-giving etiquette he once championed.

Rather than confront, Xin's work invites quiet self-reflection. Through gentle satire, Please Lah! Singapore asks audiences to reconsider their public personas and reawaken the everyday graciousness those old campaigns once tried to teach.

#sculpture #ceramics #pottery #art installation #asian