Cover Dr Chua Yang spotlights local women in her latest photo book
Dr Chua Yang spotlights local women in her latest photo book
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Set to launch on August 8, the photo book tells stories of 101 Singaporean women and will raise funds to support various women-focused projects
Dr Chua Yang believes in the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. When she’s not an obstetrician and gynaecologist at Mount Alvernia Hospital, Chua spends her time behind a camera, capturing moments that are easily overlooked by many. Her subject? Women of all stages of life.
“To be honest, I love photographing women. I constantly interact with women in my work as a gynaecologist … I have grown to love telling stories about women, often through photography, sometimes with words,” she explains, adding how she feels strongly that women are the cornerstone of any community.
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Above Dr Chua Yang at exhibition (Photo from TPM)
Dr Chua Yang at exhibition (Photo from TPM)
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Her passion for telling stories of women led her to create her first book Women Inspiring Women—The Home Edition, Mothers and Daughters in Healthcare, which was launched in May 2023. The photo book raised over $120,000 for the Singapore Medical Association Charity Fund and about $40,000 for other charities.
Working on her first photo book led to her toying with the idea of a second book—this time enlarging the scope to feature portraits and stories of Singaporean women of all professions and vocations. “It was with that notion in mind that I titled my first book The Home Edition so there will be The National Edition following,” she muses.
Following the launch of her first book, she soon started on her second. Her second book, Women Inspiring Women—The National Edition, Women in Singapore Holding Up the Sky, saw her meeting with women over ten months, learning about their lives to share their stories with the world.
Above Dr Rohan Mendis , Ms Lynnette Seah, Dr Chua Yang, Mr Sean Bo (Photo from TPM)
Dr Rohan Mendis , Ms Lynnette Seah, Dr Chua Yang, Mr Sean Bo (Photo from TPM)
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She shares that the first woman she photographed was her friend and hawker Lim Bee Hong at 6am as she started her day at work while the last—the 101st—was a migrant domestic worker Nilma Llames Balayan on a Saturday evening. Not only does Chua highlight these women’s triumphs and remarkable accomplishments, but her book also puts the spotlight on the everyday commitments that they undertake in multiple roles each day.
Her second book is set to launch on August 8, in conjunction with the opening reception of The Private Museum’s As One Thing Flows to Another exhibition. The Private Museum’s latest exhibition is curated by Ng Hui Hsien and explores the eight graces of traditional Chinese culture through the works of eight visual artists. The reception and book launch will also welcome the chief executive officer of the National Heritage Board Chang Hwee Nee as guest of honour.
Above Lim Xi Xi (Photo: Dr Chua Yang)
Above Shanti Pereira (Photo: Dr Chua Yang)
Lim Xi Xi (Photo: Dr Chua Yang)
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Much like Chua’s previous photobook, her upcoming book will raise funds to support various women-focused projects, including the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations’s Star Shelter programme that protects survivors of family abuse and violence. The funds will also support women-led art programmes by The Private Museum.
Chua has captured portraits of women from all stages of life from Olympian Shanti Pereira to urban farmer Ang Ee Peng. For her, every story “is inspiring in some way” or another, and like how these stories have inspired her, she hopes they will also inspire “many more who pick up the book”.
Amanda Goh was the former senior writer for Tatler Singapore.
