It was a long time in the making but finally Chong Fahcheong’s latest sculpture, Hey, Ah Chek! has found its home. You will find Ah Chek, Ah May and Ah Boy on the departure level of Changi Airport’s Terminal 4.

When commissioned to create a local, Peranakan sculpture for Changi’s latest terminal, fahcheong typically dipped into his memories of old Singapore and came up with this vignette of grandmother (or mother, it matters not) and a young boy hailing a trishawman to take them home after a morning’s marketing. (No guesses as to who fahcheong was thinking when he sculpted Ah Boy!) The challenge of this sculpture was to create a trishaw that was true to the 1950s and 60s as the trishaws you see today, mostly tourist attractions, are more modern in design. So fahcheong scoured the streets of Singapore and searched Malacca and Penang (two other centres of Peranakan culture) for a trishaw of that era. He finally found a dilapidated one in Singapore, had it rebuilt, and used it as a basis for his sculpture.

fahcheong having fun with Ah Chek

Working on Ah Mah in the studio

If you are travelling through T4, head to the right side of the departure level where the shops are. Climb aboard Ah Chek’s trishaw for a photo shoot, take a closer look at the intricate detailing of Ah Mah’s sarong and peek into the basket to see what she and Ah Boy are taking home to cook for lunch.

Ah Chek at T4 departure level. He has a young passenger on board.