Dimension: 29.7 (w) x 42.0 (h) cm | 11.7" x 16.5"
4 colour Risograph
Edition of 20
Signed and numbered
Printed on 220gsm uncoated acid-free paper
Subtle imperfections may vary
Knuckles & Notch (2025)
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Few sports are named after their birthplace, but Rugby is one of them! Rugby as it is played today was established in 1845 at Rugby School in Warwickshire, England. Different forms of the game where the ball was carried and thrown date all the way back to the Middle Ages. However, the current iteration of the game gained popularity throughout the 19th century across the British Empire as former students brought the game with them overseas.

In 1895 there was a great split: 21 clubs from the North of England left the Rugby Football Union to form their own union after payment disputes. This alternate union, the Rugby Football League, became the first group to turn professional and pay their players. Going forward another hundred years, this union finally became official following the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Head down southeast, and the history of Rugby in Singapore begins rather differently. A somewhat official team developed in the early 1900s named the All Blues and composed mostly of civilian expatriates in Singapore. The golden years however, for Singapore Rugby happened in the 1970s where we saw the creation of the first truly national team of only citizens. And in 1978, Singapore made history! Achieving the best performance to date, Singapore won the historic Malaya Cup in the annual tournament after 44 years of participation! Later that year they emerged with a 3rd place win behind Japan and South Korea in the 6th Asian Rugby Tournament!

Let's salute the Rugby shorts of legends such as Song Koon Poh, the 1978 Sportsman of the Year, Arumugam Vijiaratnam, the first Singaporean to represent the nation internationally in 4 different sports (including Rugby!) and Nahatar Bava, the coach of the legendary 1970s Rugby team!
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When most people think of sports, it’s often just an activity — motion, movement, engagement of both body and mind. But as visual artists, we see sports as much more than just that. Sports is a form of expression, a performance that utilises our strengths in ways that are fundamentally human and that cannot be replicated by machines. Every athletic moment is a voluntary decision we make to engage our body in a unified act of expression.

Echoes of the Wave presents our exploration of sports in a new light. Through our art director Djohan, who has spent much of his life participating in competitive games such as floor ball, hockey and skateboarding, we are able to approach this project with an understanding of sports. For him, staying active is an essential part of his holistic artistic practice, by granting him a deeper understanding of the human body.

Creativity, culture and leisure shape the way that we experience the world and ourselves, while sports concurrently engage the body and mind on a physical and metaphysical level. Integrating the two illustrates that art is more than just an aesthetic. It's a core expression of life itself, and serves to deepen our understanding and layers of meaning to these moments of athletic performance.

Our exhibition seeks to capture this synergy through a series of illustrations that reflect the intensity and impact of sports. By freezing a moment in time, we weave together the contrast of light and shadow, evoking a sense of tremendous movement, while the rich textures and neutral tones ground the palette in reality. These artworks speak to the way iconic sporting moments ripple outwards, creating lasting impressions that live on well after the moment has passed.

We aim through our art, to reflect the profound connection between sports and culture, and how they inspire each other by sparking dialogue, uniting communities, and transcending cultural boundaries.
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