A controversial Singapore artist known popularly as “Sticker Lady” is inspiring copycats despite authorities’ efforts to rein in her activities.
Police arrested and then released a local artist over the past week. She is alleged to have pasted black stickers on traffic signal buttons across the city-state, including ones with captions such as “Press To Time Travel,” and “Press For Nirvana,” and to have painted “My Grandfather Road” on city streets, which some residents interpreted as a nod to the country’s founding statesman Lee Kuan Yew. Police said they are investigating and that she could face severe punishment if found guilty of vandalism.
The phrase “My Grandfather Building”, suspected to be the work of a female artist recently arrested by Singapore authorities, is seen painted on the sidewall of a building in the outskirts of Singapore’s financial district.
Lee Kuan Yew
Yet the work of the Singapore based artist–who hasn’t been officially identified by authorities–now appears to be receiving more attention than ever, as she becomes something of a social-media phenomenon and supporters and copycats tweak her designs for their own campaigns.
Some activists are using similar designs to raise awareness of her work in the hopes of reducing any charges leveled against her (so far, she hasn’t been charged with a crime). Similar black circles, this time captioned with different phrases, have marked Twitter profiles and Facebook pages of many Singapore residents in recent days.
One blogger, Kirsten Han, designed a sticker featuring the Singlish phrase “Paste Sticker Police Catch,” directly referencing the artist’s arrest. Ms. Han, who put the stickers on her popular blog, encouraged other Twitter and Facebook users to circulate the images online to garner support for Sticker Lady. Residents have also noted the appearance of similar stickers, presumed to be the work of the artist’s supporters, at prominent locations around Singapore–including one that reads “Still Sticking Around,” with the hashtag #leaveskl0alone printed below it, off the city’s Orchard Road shopping district. ”Skl0″ is another common moniker for the Sticker Lady.
http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/06/08/singapores-sticker-lady-grows-even-m...