Teochew Opera

Lim Mu Hue portrays scenes from life backstage at the Teochow Opera. The artist’s family hails from Chaozhou in Guangdong province, where the Teochew opera also has origins. Through adopting this opera as the theme for his work, this artist is getting in touch with his roots. He makes prints as well as oil paintings on this theme. He also incorporates street performers, singers and puppeteers who live an itinerant existence moving from place to place. This motif became symbolic of the Chinese immigrant’s experience in the Malay Peninsula. The artist contributed greatly to this theme to becoming popular. The condition of this painting is extremely good; it is a representative piece of the artist’s work and one of the most well-known works of this genre in Singapore and Malaysia.