In this video on the working process of artists, filmmaker and novelist Wesley Leon Aroozoo breaks down the differences between screenwriting and novel writing. He also shares how, in writing his 2021 novel, The Punkhawala and the Prostitute, he sought to find a way to honour the lives of the karayuki-sans in an ethical manner, while crafting an engaging work of fiction.
The video was directed and conceptualised by LASALLE students Natasha ‘Coco’ Lin and Carla Castle. “Wesley Leon Aroozoo was our chosen artist, as we were both intrigued by the way he incorporated historical research into fictional narratives. We were especially captivated by his novel The Punkhawala and the Prostitute, as the book explored the lives of some of the often-forgotten and marginalised members of society in late 1800s Singapore — a subject matter not often talked about in local literature,” said Natasha and Carla.
The video can be found below and on Youtube.
Each year, 1st year students in LASALLE College of the Arts Singapore’s BA in Arts Management program embark on a research and documentation project as part of their History and Contextual Studies module. Between January and April 2022, teams of students interview an artists or arts group each, to better understand an aspect of their practice, and to produce the result of the interview in the form of a video. The students are given creative freedom in how they executed the brief and shoot and edit their videos. Five of the best videos are published on ArtsEquator.