One Tough Lady II
by Belinda Low
Original - Not For Sale
Price
Not Specified
Dimensions
72.000 x 84.000 x 0.100 inches
This piece is not for sale. Please feel free to contact the artist directly regarding this or other pieces.
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Title
One Tough Lady II
Artist
Belinda Low
Medium
Painting - Emulsion/acrylic On Wall
Description
FEATURED in FAA Portrait Gallery
This is another rendition of 'One Tough Lady' which I did in 2013. She was defaced by someone when the paints were left lying there and now she seems to be asking to be painted at where she used to live hence this is meaningful for me in a way. Here's a little history of why these women are so important and need to be remembered by the young generation.
The term Samsui women broadly refers to a group of Chinese immigrants who came to Singapore between the 1920s and the 1940s in search of construction and industrial jobs. Their hard work contributed to the country's development, both as a colony and as a nation.
About 200,000 Samsui women were believed to have come from China between 1934 and 1938, and this continued until 1949 when emigration from China was declared illegal.
The Samsui women came from Sanshui of Guangdong (Canton) Province in China, in addition to Shunde and Dongguan. Most Samsui women are Cantonese (90%) but there are Hakka (10%) as well.
These women are known to wear a red bandana -- the trademark red cloth hats that they wore.
Coming to Singapore as cheap labourers, Samsui women worked mainly in the construction industry and other industries that required hard labour. They also worked as domestic servants. They had a reputation of rejecting jobs involving drug (particularly opium) peddling, prostitution, or other vices, even if that meant they sometimes had to live in poverty. They made a lot of contribution to early development mostly by building houses and some of them worked at hawker centres mending the stalls there too.
Most Samsui women took vows never to marry, although there have been known exceptions. They lived in cramped conditions with other Samsui women, helping out each other and forming tightly united cliques.
Samsui women also remained in touch with their relatives back home in China, communicating with them frequently through letters. Occasionally, they would send money to them.
There are less than a hundred Samsui women left in Singapore today, all of them in their 80s and 90s. While painting, this old gentleman told me the last of them passed on recently in Chinatown. Organizations exist to raise awareness of these women's achievements and contributions to Singapore's development, and their current state. Some of these organizations also strive to provide free travel for the women back to China to visit their relatives before they die. One such organization was the Sam Shui Wai Kuan Association that took care of the needs of the Samsui Women. Thank you for your visit.
Uploaded
April 2nd, 2015
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Viewed 672 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/26/2024 at 3:43 PM
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Comments (8)
Beverly Guilliams
A Fabulous Capture of Gods Strength..................v./f....Loved reading your description
Deyanira Harris
Wow such a wonderful work and tribute to this lady and great description Belinda!! Take care!! :-) lfv t g
Reynold Jay
This is an attention getter!!! I laugh out loud when I see it. One cannot help but wonder and then get sucked into viewing and reading what you write on it. What an expression! The Mona Lisa pales in comparison with this smile and those sad eyes !!!!!
Belinda Low replied:
Good morning Reynold from this side of the globe! What a nice greeting and surprise your message gives on public holiday here! And as always, you are so creative with your comments! Yeah those lines and eyes say it all don't they? of what she went through in life. It's like she's asking What are you all looking at? This is no big deal featuring moi as The female lead and star in this neighborhood! Don't you know I had always been calling the shots here! LoL! :-D
Belinda Low
BIG THANKS and GRATEFUL to Scott Wallace that this got featured in FAA Portrait Gallery! :-D
Calazones Flics
Excellent work and great story!
Belinda Low replied:
Thank you v much Calazones Flics for your positive feedback on this work! your images are awesome! :-D
Carol Japp
This is really awesome work Belinda! I love the textures, colours and detail..... The expression too is fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your description, it gave a wonderful insight into the painting and it's origins. Thanks for sharing. :)
Darrell MacIver
This is a lovely portrait.
Belinda Low replied:
Hello Darrell - Thank you for your visit to the wall gallery. Appreciate it v much! :-D