ICERD Series

In recent years, I learned that ICERD stands for “The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination”, that Singapore is a part of. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-submits-first-report-on-icerd-the-convention-to-eliminate-racial-discrimination

I’m glad What’s Up (the awesome local children’s newspaper I illustrate regularly for) is actively trying to help our young readers understand the big issue of racism, and how we can all play a part to build an inclusive society in Singapore.

My wonderful editors, Cherian and Mary George, help young readers understand what a big term like ICERD stands for.

It took a while to paint this one as I worked on large watercolor sheets this time, instead of my usual pad. As I read the articles to understand how to best illustrate them, I began to realise how tough it is being the minority race in any country. Singapore is already considered pretty inclusive as we embrace all races and even recite it in our pledge daily: (We) ‘pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion’. Yet we still fall short of being totally inclusive as casual racism still happens.

I learned so much from this beautiful, meaningful project. Here are some articles from the project for our younger readers for the home/classroom!