Sylvia Ong

Born in Kuala Lumpur (1980), Sylvia Ong is a contemporary artist currently living and working in Dubai, UAE. As a performing arts graduate with a major in cinematography, she has directed TV programs and corporate videos, and produced a host of TV and radio commercials, as well as still photography and fashion shoots for numerous high profile clients and brands.

She has also made several short films; some of which were nominated at the 16th Malaysia Film Festival, and even picked up a Best Jury Awards at the Freedom Film Festival. Her work has been selected for the longest running piece at the American Asian Film Festival, with screenings at the Bangkok, Rotterdam, Indonesia, Taiwan and Singapore Film Festivals, in addition to a feature at International Screening, Golden Screen Cinemas, Malaysia.

Film is only one of Sylvia’s passions. In the theatre industry, she won Best Female Actress with Theatre Selangor, Malaysia, and her monologue helped her pick up the Best Supporting Actress award at Festival Theatre Malaysia for her performance in Nur.

But her inspirations go far beyond film and theatre. To her, every place she has called home has been a source of deep inspiration, and this is evident in her latest pursuits as an artist. Painting quickly became her new form of expression and communication, with her past experiences combined with travelling and living away from home fuelling her ideas on canvas.

“Moving to Singapore, Bangkok and Dubai allowed me to explore tropical countries, modern cities, mountains, islands, and even the desert. It’s about the feeling, the general atmosphere, and sometimes the memories associated with a place. Meeting a diverse group of people everywhere has also changed me as a person, which has also impacted my identity as an artist.”

Over the past couple of years, Sylvia went from layered strokes in her first exhibition, La Fete (the French word for the gathering of family and friends to celebrate an important life event) to energetic interpretations of emotions in her second exhibition, La Maison, meaning ‘Home’. Both solo exhibitions have seen her personal experiences and stories make their way onto the canvas, always left to the viewer’s interpretation.

At first, How Happy are the Flowers, her latest series, might not seem like the most natural follow-up to Sylvia’s past two exhibitions as it incorporates such new ideas, but for Sylvia, it is another step in her journey as storyteller. With this series, she aims to spark a connection between viewers and their natural surroundings. Through research and experimentation around sounds and colour frequencies, Sylvia has managed to transpose the rich diversity of shades, tones and textures from plants and nature onto her canvas, through a bold technique combining drips and spills, with hints of subtlety.

“When I listen to music, I feel the colours, the mood – just like with film. I wanted to create work that gives one the sense that life is a journey. The space we pass through, the time we experience; it is like how we travel along a piece of music, following its every nuance. The art brings the emotions that fill the space, and it brings a new perspective to the world.” 

As with much of her work, Sylvia still believes in producing meaningful conversations between viewer and canvas without creating too much structure, preferring instead a more fluid storytelling form. This is evident in her latest collection, and is truly becoming part of Sylvia’s identity as an artist. Over time, she has continuously invited us to clear our minds and allow her pieces to take us on a journey, not so much to arrive at a destination, but simply to just let ourselves take off.

“Art is my way of communication and I see it as a fluid process, where everything on earth and in the universe has a rhythm.”