Around The Artists Village: Farming landscape at Lorong Gambas

Hazel McIntosh’s two ink drawings show the rural outskirts of Sembawang. Using quick, spontaneous lines, she drew what stood out to her: chickens, ducks, banana trees, a backyard shed marked with the number 226. At first glance, the style may look casual, but every line is purposeful. McIntosh wasn’t interested in recreating the landscape in detail. She was responding to how it felt to be there.

McIntosh made these sketches while living at 61-B Lorong Gambas in Sembawang, which was once home to The Artists Village. Co-founded by Tang Da Wu in the late 1980s, The Artists Village was one of Singapore’s earliest contemporary art collectives. At the time, studio spaces in Singapore were rare and urban expansion occupied more land each day. Away from the city, 61-B Lorong Gambas offered artists a place to live, create and exchange ideas freely with their peers.

McIntosh was Tang’s partner and one of the few female artist-members of the group. Her sketches offer glimpses into a shared, lived-in space, where artists balanced making art with domestic routines. In 1989, she took part in the group’s exhibition, First Open Studio Show. The collective stayed just two years at Lorong Gambas, before the rural landscape gave way to neat rows of public housing.