That's One Tough Lady
by Belinda Low
Original - Not For Sale
Price
Not Specified
Dimensions
36.000 x 66.000 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
That's One Tough Lady
Artist
Belinda Low
Medium
Painting - Emulsion On Mural
Description
FEATURED in the following FAA groups:
Beauty in Art - NO Photography
Exclusively Drawings and Paintings
Awesome Asia
FAA Portrait Gallery
Asian Perspectives
Human Face
Excellent Self-Taught Artists.
This is another addition to the wall. Unfortunately this was vandalised and face was erased. So if you happened to walk by the tunnel, you will see a different face repainted by someone else in the mural group. But the good thing is it's 'immortalised' right here in FAA! I am glad to be able to paint her on another wall a few years later n Chinatown. Check out my work 'Welcome to Our World'.
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.
In Chinese, 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. 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.
Uploaded
July 29th, 2013
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Viewed 477 Times - Last Visitor from Cambridge, MA on 04/19/2024 at 9:37 AM
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Comments (21)
Belinda Low
BIG THANKS to Scott Wallace for featuring this in his great group "FAA Portrait Gallerty"!!! :-D
FRANCE ART
P.S. Thank you for the history of these women ..F&L ;0) Dona
Belinda Low replied:
I try to share whatever history I can get on these as I get educated myself too from these stories. There are still a very few of these single surviving women left here now...
FRANCE ART
Dear Belinda...this vibrant portrait is so moving.. Your style is unique and captivating! My heart is touched by your description as well.. I think You are a Sweetheart.. And One Tough Lady! Hugs to you.. Dona Dugay :0)
Belinda Low replied:
Hello Dona! You don't know how happy I am you visited. I went to your page and spent a long time during admiring your beautiful photos of France! I think you are a Sweetheart too. Trying to be tough and independent (haha)...And Thank you for your generous words...Hope to catch up with you some day in my travels to France?!
Hanne Lore Koehler
Marvelous portrait in wall mural, Belinda!!! L/F
Belinda Low replied:
Hanne! Thanks v much for appreciating her! I have enjoyed the process v much...and it's from there that I gained much confidence with faces and portraits! :-)
Hazel Holland
Love this very expressive portrait, Belinda! L/F
Belinda Low replied:
Thank you for stopping by to visit and for your kind comment Hazel! Your works are awesome! :-)
Michal Kwarciak
Great work Belinda! You are very talented! L/F
Belinda Low replied:
Hello Michal - Thanks v much for visiting and for appreciating this piece and for your sweet comment! :-)
Victoria Herrera
This work is fabulous, I feel sorry about the vandalism on it, you are so talented Belinda! V / F
Belinda Low replied:
Hello Victoria - No worries. I tell myself I can always repaint in onto canvas and keep it at home instead! Thanks so much for appreciating this and for your v kind words dear! :-)
Linda Spencer
Love your portraits. You've inspired me to do a self-portrait, which every artist is suppose to do.
Belinda Low replied:
Linda - Thank you for visiting! Yes please do paint yourself and share with us! I love your dog portraits!
Greta Corens
A joyous reminder that the older one gets, the more segmented one becomes. Sometimes in a good way, like here, in fact an excellent way, full of joy and color, and variety. Forever a monument revisited. Thank you, Belinda.
Belinda Low replied:
I am so flattered you visited, Greta! and thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, however yucky I feel some days, painting really filled the void and emptiness and made me smile again. I love your work - they are so awesome!
HH Photography
What a marvelous face. I'm so sorry your painting was vandalized but as you said, it's immortalized here on FAA. Beautiful work, Belinda. Very interesting information about the Samsui women. It sounds like they were the *Steel Magnolia's* of their day. v18/f
Belinda Low replied:
Thank you so much for liking this. Yes they were the real builders of the country and I don't want them forgotten - thanks to art, we keep them and their spirit alive! I have accepted that things like these happen in streetart. Lesson learnt - will keep the paints away while work is in progress!
AnnaJo Vahle
I agree with Bonnie, "So sorry, it was vandalized." It is an amazing portrait. Glad that it seems to be faring better. Good luck with your charity auction. f/v
Belinda Low replied:
Thanks AnnaJo. I got comforted after this episode when I was told to paint the coolie aka Cool Dude and other portraits. But I still miss 'her' and intend to paint another one at home. I acquaint myself with her somehow as I had worked hard all my life...As for the charity auction, I don't know Been out the whole day and they are displaying our works for a few weeks more. But I had a good time chilling out with fellow artists and just catching up which was more the highlight of today.
Bonnie Mason
An amazing portrait! So sorry it was vandalised.
Belinda Low replied:
Thanks Bonnie. The face was repainted by someone else in the group. After that when they kept the paints away to one corner and covered them that things seemed ok. Sorry for my late reply due to workload and not having the time to reply which I usually do during lunch times so you can imagine I was busy during lunch with errands the last two days preparing for a charity auction tomorrow!
Belinda Low
I feel so honored and grateful to SAIGON De Manila for the feature in Asian Perspective!
Beverley Harper Tinsley
I always admire expressive portraits like this one.
Belinda Low replied:
Beverly - Thanks so much for your v encouraging words. One main reason why I like portraiture is in the challenge of trying to protray the subject's feelings and express them through my brushwork!
Debbie Portwood
Fantastic work! Wonderful and very interesting description as well! v.f
Belinda Low replied:
Thank you v much Debbie. I intend to repaint her at home on a canvas. I can see myself in her in all ways.