We Are NUS
The People and Everyday Life of a University
Commissioned by the National University of Singapore, 2021–2022
We Are NUS is an expansive suite of sixty paintings by artist and alumnus Yeo Tze Yang, capturing the lived experience and institutional memory of the National University of Singapore. Rejecting the detached gaze of conventional institutional portraiture, Yeo engaged in a deeply collaborative process, painting the majority of his subjects face-to-face. These sitting sessions functioned as informal oral history interviews; conversations between artist and subject directly informed the brushwork, embedding personal narratives into the texture of each canvas.
The resulting archive spans the full spectrum of the university’s ecosystem—bringing together faculty, undergraduates, administrative staff, facilities personnel, and alumni. Yeo places these diverse figures alongside the mundane, yet emotionally resonant, spaces they inhabit: the liminality of daily commuter paths, the quietude of a Kent Ridge sunset, and the shared rituals of campus canteens.
Tracing its lineage back to 1905, the university’s history is typically told through the macro-narratives of institutional triumph and academic accolades. We Are NUS deliberately pivots toward the microhistory. It serves as a visual testament to the collective perseverance and quiet labor of the generations who inhabit this space, asserting that an institution is ultimately defined not by its architecture or trophies, but by the fleeting, unnoticed moments of its people.
"It is my hope that this project serves as a reminder... of what makes a university. These paintings capture those tiny moments and stories of the people who make this institution matter." — Yeo Tze Yang
Watch the short documentary about the behind-the-scenes of We Are NUS here.
