Tay Boon Pin was born in Indonesia in 1936. He migrated to Singapore in 1945 amidst growing racial turmoil in Indonesia. He remained in Singapore for a few years. Tay Boon Pin returned to Singapore in 1952 to pursue an arts education. He attended Chung Cheng High School before enrolling at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art (NAFA). It was at NAFA where Tay began to realise the huge significance of art in his life and society. He was an early member of the social realist group, Equator Art Society. He and artists like Lim Yew Kuan, Chua Mia Tee and Ong Kim Seng focused on producing artworks that reflected the real-life society of common folks. This range of works depicted working-class individuals in everyday situations where ...