Changi Murals
The Changi Murals are a set of five paintings of biblical themes painted by
After the war, the walls of the chapel were distempered over, hiding the murals from view. They were forgotten until their rediscovery in 1958. Due to their historical significance, an international search was conducted to locate the original painter to help in restoring the damaged and faded murals. Warren was eventually found in 1959 and, after much persuasion, agreed to assist in the restoration project. He made three trips to Singapore between 1963 and 1988 to restore his former paintings. Because of his advanced age, only four of the original murals were fully restored. In the 1990s, the former site of the murals was gazetted as a Heritage Site by the National Heritage Board of Singapore.[1]
History
Warren, a commercial designer producing poster ads with the
In early 1942, Warren was posted overseas to Malaya (former name for Malaysia) with the 15th Field Regiment Royal Artillery after the Japanese had invaded Malaya and Thailand, and Pearl Harbor had been bombed. After the British surrender of Singapore on 15 February 1942, Warren and other Allied POWs were interned in Changi with Warren interned at Roberts Barracks. Warren with the POWs worked around Singapore, repairing damage inflicted by the Japanese attacks and getting essential services back to working order.
St Luke's Chapel
During one of the work parties, Warren was sent to build a road and stairs leading to a memorial to the Japanese dead on Bukit Batok Hill (marked with a
By mid-August 1942, Warren had recovered enough to be moved to the dysentery wing at Block 151 of Roberts Barracks.
The five murals
On 30 August 1942, at the time when Warren was preparing the draft drawings of the murals, the Japanese began an action which would become known as the
By Christmas 1942, he completed his first mural, the Nativity. Altogether, Warren managed to produce five large murals on the walls of the chapel, each mural being about three metres long, in the following order:[6]
- Nativity
- Ascension
- Crucifixion
- Last Supper
- St Luke in Prison
All of them were subjects which are at the very heart of Christian belief. The completed murals uplifted the spirits of the POWs and sick when they sought refuge in the chapel. Warren never put his name on any of his paintings as he considered them "a gift to God".
Rediscovery
Forgotten for nearly 13 years, the Changi Murals were accidentally rediscovered in 1958 by servicemen of the
Restoration
In 1960, the RAF contacted Warren and the idea of restoring the murals was brought up. He was initially reluctant to return to restore his works due to the painful memories of war and captivity the murals would bring back to him: "I didn't immediately want to come. I felt that there would be some sort of... trauma. I'm trying to forget this, you know, I tried so hard... It took years really to eliminate the memories and fears... the long drawn out experience and really waiting for death over three and a half years, it's long time to expect death. And I really tried to forget... But of course I was never able to do that."[9]
After much persuasion, he overcame his fear and eventually made three trips to Singapore to restore his murals in December 1963, July 1982 and May 1988. The 1982 restoration was more intensive and the invaluable assistance given to Warren by the officers and boys of the SAF Boys' School enabled the bulk of the work to be completed.[9] Of the original five murals, only one was not fully restored; the mural of St Luke in Prison. Warren's original tracing of the drawing was missing, and he could not remember the details of the missing portion. In 1985, Warren's original drawing was discovered in the memorabilia of Wally Hammond who had been a fellow prisoner with Warren. These original sketches were subsequently donated to the National Archives of Singapore. From the original, Warren painted a small picture, which was placed below the remaining piece of the mural in 1988. He was, by then, not fit enough to restore the actual mural.[9]
On 20 February 1992, Warren died in his home in Bridport, England, at the age of 75.[6]
Parliamentary discussions
Warren's murals were discussed in the
The murals today
The three-storey Block 151 of Roberts Barracks (off Martlesham Road) still stands, but is now part of the Ministry of Defence's Changi Airbase Camp. Most of the buildings surrounding Block 151 were demolished in July 2003. However, for public interest, a replica of Stanley Warren's murals is also on display at the
Since 1993, the Changi Murals, Changi Prison and other Second World War sites in Singapore have been part of a Battlefield Tour organised by the National Institute of Education and the Ministry of Defence, a bi-annual five-day residential National Awareness programme to create greater awareness of national and security issues among trainee teachers.[11]
Commemoration
In November 1994, a two-man British team was in Singapore to film the Changi Murals and Kranji War Memorial for a BBC documentary, for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission which marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.[12]
On 15 February 2002, more than 250 former POWs and their families from Australia,
See also
- Double Tenth Incident
- James Clavell
- Battle of Kranji
Notes
- ^ National Heritage Board, "Changi Murals", pp. 103—104.
- ^ a b Stubbs, "Prison Camp", pp. 37—43.
- ^ a b c Stubbs, "The Painting of the Changi Murals", pp. 50—55.
- ^ Major Yap, "Changi Murals", pp. 100—102.
- ^ Stubbs, "Surviving the War", pp. 71—72.
- ^ a b "1942—The Changi Murals". MINDEF Singapore. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
- ^ Lloyd-Smith, Jake (17 September 2005). "Rough-spun memories of terrible time". The Financial Times. p. 4.
- ^ a b Stubbs, "The Rediscovery of the Murals", pp. 84—88.
- ^ a b c d Stubbs, "The Restoration of the Murals", pp. 91—96.
- ^ "Picture Gallery — The Changi Murals". Changi Chapel & Museum. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
- ^ "Perils of war on their minds". The Straits Times. 4 December 1996.
- ^ Perera, Sanjay (17 November 1994). "2-man team here to shoot film on war graves". The Straits Times.
- Adelaide Advertiser.
References
- National Heritage Board (2002). Singapore 100 Historic Places. Singapore: Archipelago Press. ISBN 978-981-4068-23-9.
- Stubbs, Peter W. (2003). The Changi Murals — The Story of Stanley Warren's War. Singapore: Landmarks Books. ISBN 978-981-3065-84-0.
- Yap, Siang Yong (1992). Fortress Singapore — The Battlefield Guide. Singapore: Times Books International. ISBN 978-981-204-365-8.