Singapore artist overcomes mental ordeal through art

08/02/2009
By Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : Art is different things to different people.

But for one person, it has helped her come to terms with her mental and physical condition.

As a secondary school art teacher, 36-year-old Aneesa Connie Teo used to teach 500 to 600 students per week.

She decided to call it quits after her mental health went on a tailspin about two years ago.

"I was always feeling very tired. And I think that it was very difficult for me to just get out of the bed to go to school. But I did not want to do any injustice to anyone," recalled Teo.

"For the one-and-half years, the so-called sickness finally reared its head and it finally blew into this thing known as the chronic fatigue syndrome, where your immune system will be compromised," she continued.

Now, as artist-in-residence at Zhonghua Secondary School, she has found comfort working with only 30 students who have toiled with her to come up with this exhibition entitled "Just Desserts".

The textured art pieces bear several layers of meaning. They represent Connie's renewed hope and reflections of her ordeal.

"It is okay to fall, it is okay to have pieces that don’t look complete and so, we as human beings, do not have to be in tip-top (condition) all the time. And as some students say, one of them feedback that it is all about pieces being in ruins," said Teo.

The exhibition will debut on February 13.