Born in 1946 in Singapore, Chong Fah Cheong is regarded as one of Singapore’s pioneer sculptors. A teacher by training, Chong is a graduate from the University of Singapore, and has a Diploma in Curriculum Studies in Art and Design from the City of Birmingham Polytechnic, United Kingdom. He taught art in Singapore schools before becoming a professional artist in 1978. In 1989, Chong moved to Canada where he currently lives and works but makes regular trips back to Singapore to engage with the local art scene and participate in exhibitions.In 1979, the Singapore government started the Speak Mandarin campaign to urge Chinese Singaporeans to use Mandarin, one of the four official languages, instead of dialect. This work, inspired by the logo of the campaign, raises questions of what makes a mother tongue as the Chinese population is made up of many different dialect groups for which Mandarin is not a native language.
