"Unity in Duality"

Currently, in Singapore with SGEM (Speak Good English Movement) , the idea is to brand Singapore Standard English and eradicate the colloquial speech, Singlish. However, I feel that there ought to be a balance for Singapore,a young city without natural resources, in keeping Standard English for pragmatic reasons and allowing Singlish for the emotional capital that it holds. Both extremes should exist in balance for Singapore’s progress and the national heritage. Living in any of the extreme, Singapore will lose the balance. We will be left with only emptiness. Yin is Singlish & Yang is Singapore Standard English.

Below is my comparison based on my diagram above:

Yin: Singlish

- Receptive( quick to receive, quick to admit)

Hybrid of multi-lingual Singapore. English + Chinese+ Malay+ Tamil + Dialects

- Yielding ( inclined to give in,submissive, flexible)

Not selective/ no discrimination of words of any language. Any words from the Singapore’s languages can fit together into a sentence. Lack of grammatical rules which is due to the mixing of multiple language with English. ie. Malay + Chinese can all fit into a English sentence : “Where you go to Jalan Jalan ah?”

- Negative ( lack of constructiveness/ in denial)

Suck a rojak language is not intelligible by foreigners, thus it is view as a communication barrier outside Singapore

- Nurturing (nourish/feed/protect)

Protect interaction and togetherness/toleration/communication of our multi-ethnic society. Feed our emotional attachment to Singaporeans.

Yang: Singapore Standard English

- Active(encourage in action/capable of exerting influence, effective)

Highly essential and effective in engaging communication with the world, thus promoting economic progress as a nation.

- Dominating (predominate/permeate/ rule over)

Our official working language. Education in English medium. Dominates communication among multi-ethnic society.

- Positive ( emphasizing what is laudable, hopeful, constructive, good)

Gets us to the world stage. Positive and essential for constructing Singapore’s reputation and economic connection with the world. Important for a city without natural resources.

- Initiating/creating ( to propose, to begin, to get going, to carve, to happen)

Initiates us to the world and beyond. Initiate our position and potential to the super-states. Opportunities are thus created for improvement and development as a nation.

Archive Fever Show |dear PLASTIC|

Posters

2 Posters are designed for the show.

Poster 1 focus on a self-portrait after surgery, awaiting to be unveiled on the day of exhibition. Upon closer look, the central of the posters are filled with vocabularies on Plastic Surgery procedures.

Poster 2 focus on portraying a collective photographic images of my “patients” on a polaroid with me signing off - love, zi rui. Presented on a relatively bare canvas, I wish to encourage the viewers to move closer to observe the marks of surgery lines on each patients’ face.

Exhibition Setting

Design Solutions

1.Medical form bearing the dear PLASTIC logo is specially designed to keep a record of each patient’s medical history, self- aesthetics evaluation and personal request to Plastic. 

2.Each patient has a specially designed case for storage of postcards.Each postcard reflects visually the Patient’s Name, Age, Procedure and Operation Time on one side. On the other, it contains my personal confession to PLASTIC about how I view and feel about each procedure. The content of the confession is an intimate reflection on the relationship I have with each family members and friends, and reflect how I used to remember them visually. The number of postcards are dependent on the number of procedure requested by each patient.

3. Each set of postcards and forms are tagged with an index number for easy future case reference. The archive will continue to build up as I continue to “operate” on more friends and families’ plastic surgery desires.

4. My namecard is given out during the exhibition. Interested friends can approach me for their desired surgery. I assumed the pseudo identity of ” DR Ray Han” and based the design of the logo on my facial contours, since I am the Surgeon, the family, the friend and the critic. 

Archive as Such - Blog Cards

Since my project revolved largely on postcards. I’ve decided to translate my online archive blog in BLOG CARDS. Blog cards = Post Cards + Blog. The front of each postcard contain images of each archive entry,in which the individual cards are categorized by research topic. The back of the postcard will present a corresponding summary on entry’s details recorded at the time and date of entry. The exact link of the entry is provided at the bottom for receivers to read up more online.

The blog cards serve as information that can be disseminated and shared with anyone and everyone. Each providing an image and a piece of information on Plastic Surgery.

Archive Fever Show - Time Capsule

BELIEVE in The Magic Potion

The magic potion is brewed after 28 days of being “underground”. absorbing the earth’s aura to reveal a magical energy within each bottle. Participants are led through a ritual of wish making and potion drinking, each step done with great sincerity and respect.

Note: The Magic Potion contains NO MAGIC! But the idea is to illustrate the notion of BELIEVE. If you sincerely believe, you’ll make your wish come true, because you truly believe. Faith and hard work resulted from your sincerity will lead you to fulfill your wish because you BELIEVE. So….. Believe whole heartedly in whatever your mind and heart set you to do. Never give up and you’ll succeed.

Dear Plastic, ( Week 1)

Before

After

My initial plan was to designed postcards based on 1. After surgery photos, 2. Before surgery sketches coupled with my diaries entries of them. My classmates were commenting on the importance of the visual process and I do agree. My next step is to consider how can the process be integrated into the solution

Michael Jackson Plastic Illustration

This is funny!

Letters from Patients to Surgery Doctors

Letter from a patient who suffered from Breast cancer and how the surgery helped her passed this phase

Letter from patient who had breast augmentation

A Beauty Formula

A Beauty formula derived by cosmetic surgeons.

South Korea, the nip/tuck hub of Asia

BY LEE HAN SHIH   TUESDAY, 01 JANUARY 2008 18:17
DURING the Golden Week long holiday in May last year, 76,000 Japanese tourists descended on neighbouring South Korea. Many spent nearly their entire stay holed up in hotel rooms, seldom venturing into the public areas. And they went home highly satisfied.
No, these people aren’t Japanese sex tourists. These people are there for a different reason: Cosmetic surgery.

Credit: istockphoto

Quietly, South Korea has become the plastic surgeon of North Asia, or even the entire Asia. 

The Japanese, who remember Korea as a former colony and tend to look down on all things Koreans, flock to Seoul and other South Korean cities to cut their eyelids, straighten and heighten their noses, smoothen their wrinkles and whiten their skins.
More recently, they are joined by a growing number of Chinese from the mainland. In both Japan and China, there are now special package tours that revolve around cosmetic surgery for the face and body.

Typically, a tourist will spend the first day of the tour going under the knife with a pre-arranged surgeon — often at the recommendation of the tour operator — and the next few days resting in their rooms waiting for the swellings to subside before going home.

Talk to a Japanese plastic surgeon and he is likely to tut-tut his Korean competitor as a cheap imitation. While it is true most plastic surgeries in South Korea cost about half that in Japan, this is not the only reason why many Japanese have decided to go over for the op.
The truth is that the skills of cosmetic surgeons in South Korea are now as good as those in Japan, or perhaps even better in some areas. This is hardly surprising considering changing one’s face has become a national pastime in Korea. What started as a trend for celebrities have now spread across the entire social spectrum. The young do it to improve their looks or to resemble their idols.

The working people do it on the belief — which has been proven right more often than not — that it gives them a better chance of getting a good job or beating their colleagues for that coveted promotion. Politicians do it to secure votes. Plastic surgery has even become a symbol of filial piety. For Father’s and Mother’s Day in South Korea, it is now common for children to offer parents a trip to the plastic surgeon as a gift.
The rise of South Korea’s cosmetic surgery industry is closely tied to the equally meteoric rise of its soap operas, which has captivated audience all over Asia and even in many western countries.

These soap operas are often tragicomedies studded with good-looking men and beautiful women, each and every one of them having had their face altered, often more than once.
The popularity of the soap operas has given a big boost to the cosmetic surgery business, which in turn made it even more necessary for performers to improve their appearance. It is this virtuous cycle (or vicious cycle, depending on one’s view) that pushed South Korea’s cosmetic surgery to the cutting edge of the industry.
Never one to ignore a growing business, the South Korean government has taken a direct interest to encourage the growth of the industry. Recently, the government and 28 private hospitals have jointly set up a body called The Council for Korea Medicine Overseas Promotions to set the country as a hub for medical tourism.

The council has three main target markets: the Japanese, the Chinese and the overseas Koreans, specifically those in the United States. For the moment, the Japanese market is the biggest and most mature.
The Chinese market is new, and relatively small, but has the potential to overtake the Japanese market in a few years. (Most Chinese still can’t afford plastic surgery in South Korea, which can cost 50 times more than in China. But those who can afford it would always choose South Korea over China, given China’s uncertain medical standards.)
The third market, the overseas Koreans, is small, but lucrative. There are some 440,000 Koreans in the US who are not covered by medical insurance. The council is making a big push to convince them to come “home” to have their face done. It has taken a two-pronged approach. The first is price: the cost of a stay in the US hospital (surgery plus one night) is around $3,760. In South Korea, it can be as cheap as $300. On top of this, the council is also introducing the use of Asian herbs in the surgery.

If that works for the Koreans, it plans to also introduce them to the Japanese, the Chinese or even other Asians.

Lee Han Shih is a senior journalist based in Singapore.

South Korean Plastic Surgery

Posted by
Daniel Workman
Sep 7, 2007

International trade is a mosaic of major market trends and specialty niches. But plastic surgery in South Korea

Well, yes … and actually it makes perfect business sense.

What has caught the attention of international tourists is a group of South Korean entertainers who, after cosmetic surgery, radiate with remarkably soft and natural-looking skin.

Those same tourists want the same flat stomachs and rounded cheekbones of the South Korean stars. South Korea has 80 cosmetic surgery clinics in its so-called Beauty Town (Busan). Korean surgeons are renown for their surgical expertise and glamour results, specializing in “double eyelids” created by inserting a crease in the upper lid that make the eyes seem larger.

South Korea’s overseas promotion project has enlisted the services of Korean celebrities to further popularize cosmetic procedures, and expects 13,000 tourists to visit one of South Korea’s 1,400 esthetic plastic surgeons this year.

The price is right for high-quality Korean surgery. Eyelid operations cost about US$1,100 in Korea compared to $1,700 in Thailand, $1,900 in Japan and $4,700 in the United States.

Just how popular is South Korean cosmetic surgery? Well, even South Korean president Roh Moo Hyun and First Lady Kwon Yang Look have had what they refer to as “corrective surgery” in 2005.

While Stephen Harper and George W may not be the next to step up to the cosmetic surgery plate, South Korea has surely established a profitable niche in the international plastic surgery tourism.

Down's daughter has cosmetic surger

Cosmetic surgery caused a public outcry!

Wednesday 7th May 2008

Has Kim Gallagher, 45, from South London, ever regretted the controversial decision she made in 1996? 

Think ‘cosmetic surgery’, and I bet your head fills with images of fake boobs and face-lifts. It’s for people who are obsessed with their looks, right? Not always. Back in 1996, I put my 2-year-old daughter, Georgia, through three cosmetic surgery procedures. Not to give her a flatter tummy or a cuter nose. But because she has Down’s syndrome. 

When Georgia was born at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, in October 1993, I was devastated to discover she had Down’s. Like any mum, I wanted my baby to be perfect. 
‘Why us?’ I wept to my partner, Dave Bussey, then 29. We already had one daughter, Bianca, 4. How would we cope? And what about Georgia? Would she be bullied? Need constant care? 
I’ll admit, I was terrified. 

It wasn’t until she was 6 weeks old that I held Georgia for the first time. She’d been in special care, and part of me worried I wouldn’t love her the way I did Bianca. But as I cradled her in my arms and looked into her eyes, that same protective rush of love washed over me. I would do everything I could to give her the best life possible. 

That’s why, two-and-a-half years later, I decided cosmetic surgery would benefit her. It wasn’t because I was ashamed of my daughter. It was because I was worried about her future. Since starting at a nursery school six months earlier, she’d already been in tears more than once after being taunted by some of the other children. 

Also, doctors had warned that, in time, Georgia’s sight would deteriorate. But with her ears curled over at the top, she’d never be able to wear glasses. So, in 1995, I asked a paediatrician at the Chelsea and Westminster about pinning her ears back. 

‘It’s not a major procedure,’ he said. ‘Have you thought about reducing her tongue, too?’ 
People with Down’s have smaller mouths, so their tongues tend to stick out, leading to difficulties breathing, speaking and eating. 
‘I don’t know…’ I dithered. 
I didn’t want to put Georgia through anything else. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised it might improve her quality of life. 

So a year later, Dave and I agreed to go ahead with the NHS operation. Finally, when Georgia was nearly 3, she went back to the hospital to have her ears pinned back. It all went well, and just before the second operation, to make her tongue smaller, the surgeon suggested removing the excess folds of skin above her eyes. 

There were no health benefits, but it would make Georgia look more ‘normal’, and less likely to be bullied. 
‘OK, let’s do it,’ Dave and I agreed. 
If it meant our little girl had a happier, more confident childhood and a better future, surely it was worth it? 

Just two hours after the four-hour operation, Georgia was tucking into some ice cream. 
‘Mmm, lovely!’ she grinned. 
Relief hit me. 
‘We’ve done the right thing,’ I said to Dave. 

So I never imagined that all hell would break loose when the press heard about what we’d done. 
CAN THIS BE RIGHT? screamed one headline. 
I was inundated with calls from journalists wanting me to explain my actions. Some people suggested it was child abuse. 
‘I’m not ashamed of Georgia,’ 
I told Judy Finnegan and Richard Madeley, when I appeared on This Morning not long afterwards. ‘I just want to improve her life.’ 

Thanks to the operation on her tongue, Georgia was soon learning new words and finding it much easier to eat and breathe. Everything seemed to be going right. But the same couldn’t be said for Dave and me. After several years of drifting apart, we split in October 1997, when Georgia was 4. So now, I was a single mum. Not easy with a Down’s child. 

As well as taking Georgia to hospital five times a week to see a speech and co-ordination specialist, I still had to bath her and help dress her. Another worry, with Dave gone, was money. I needed a job. 
‘How about decorating?’ my brother, John, 43, suggested. ‘You’ve done a great job with your place.’ 

So in September 1998, I started an NVQ in interior design at Lambeth College, South London. And later that month, I beamed with pride as I waved Georgia off in her uniform on her first day at St Peter’s, a primary school in South-west London. All day, I worried she was being bullied. Like many kids with Down’s, she had a gentle, loving nature, so other kids’ cruel words could really hurt. But she was smiling when I picked her up. 

‘It was fun, Mummy,’ she said. 
While Bianca and Georgia were at school, I made ends meet working part-time as a painter and decorator. My mum, Patricia, and dad, John, both 66, helped out as best they could, too. 
A year later, I completed my NVQ and, in June 2000, I started teaching interior design skills as part of a community refurbishment scheme in New Cross, South-east London. 

But I was tired of the city. It was hectic and aggressive. Did I want to live here when Georgia was a teenager, when kids could be even nastier to her? Violent even? By 2005, when Georgia was 12, I’d decided enough was enough. Once Bianca had done her GCSEs, I sold our house and found a three-bedroom place on the Costa Blanca, outside Alicante. 
‘It has a pool and everything,’ I told the girls. 
‘Brilliant!’ Georgia laughed. 

She and Bianca were thrilled to be moving to Spain. I was excited, too, and planning to run a bar called Vice Versa in nearby Benidorm, with my mate, John Fleming, 56. In March 2006, John and I flew out to get everything sorted, and four months later, Mum brought the girls out to join us. As soon as Georgia saw our villa, with its bright blue swimming pool, her eyes lit up. 
‘I want to swim!’ she cheered. 

I enrolled her at a special school and she started learning the Spanish for simple words like ‘bread’ and ‘dog’. Something I doubt she could have done without the operation on her tongue. The three of us had a great time, swimming in the pool and playing games in the sun. 

But despite my best efforts, the bar started losing money. By November 2006, our nest egg was gone, and we were broke. I felt such a failure. This was meant to be a better future for the girls. Now, I’d let them down. 
‘It’s OK, Mummy,’ Georgia said, as we flew back home in April 2007, and moved in with my parents. But I could tell she was sad. 

‘You’ll be back on your feet in no time, Kim,’ Mum said. 
If only, I thought, feeling sorry for myself. But of course, Mum was right. Two months later, I got a job teaching painting and decorating at a training centre called Springboard, in North London, and enrolled Georgia at a special school called College Park. She absolutely loves it. In fact, she’s so confident, she’s even started dancing and singing classes. Would she have done that if she hadn’t had those earlier operations? Who knows? 

I just know that since she had them, the teasing has stopped and she seems a much happier girl. So I’ve no regrets. And if Georgia came to me and said she wanted to have more cosmetic surgery, yes, I’d consider it. Because, like any mum, the most important thing to me is my children’s happiness. And what could be wrong with that?