Dealing with his father’s death during his final stint in prison, ex-gang leader Whye Kee turned to pottery. What started as an act of creation became a catalyst for change. Today, as a ceramicist, Whye Kee intends to dedicate time to mentoring at-risk youth, using both his personal story and his craft to prove that change is always possible.
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00:00Gang, we talk about glory.
00:03When I went to his week with handcraft, legcalf, shaker, and orange overall,
00:10those glory actually is nothing, you know?
00:13It's like bringing shame to my family.
00:15Actually, I did nothing for my family but shame.
00:23Hi, I'm Wykey. I'm a full-time services.
00:26I literally work like a farmer.
00:28I wake up at 5, eat breakfast, and then do pottery in the morning.
00:34I joined gang because I was tired of getting bullied in school,
00:38decided that I cannot take it anymore, so I joined gang to fight back.
00:42And because at that point of time was like 1996-1997,
00:46the Asian economic crisis, and then a lot of parents lost their job,
00:51and a lot of youth got no attention at home,
00:55and therefore they joined gang because the gang is a bigger family.
00:58They have a lot of brothers that acknowledge your assistant.
01:03This in gang is called fighter dogs.
01:06The gang doesn't require us to do that.
01:09Just that we put that and show off that we are fighters.
01:12I picked up pottery during my last sentence in prison.
01:23That was because my dad passed away,
01:26and then I don't want to think about it, so I joined pottery to pass time.
01:30During the three months after we learned the basic,
01:33you know, we work like eight to five every day,
01:36and it's the best time because instead of staying inside the cell for 23 hours,
01:41we have a lot of negative thoughts.
01:43So pottery is really a gateway for me to overcome.
01:47Or rather, I don't think we can overcome.
01:51When we lost somebody, nobody actually teach us how to handle it.
01:56We don't really feel sad about it initially.
01:59After a while, when you start to think of that person,
02:02and then everything just ends, it's unbearable.
02:08Because we have a library in prison,
02:11so I start to look at books, look at drawings,
02:13and how to translate that drawing into the pottery.
02:16So I just put all my time inside pottery.
02:26It was quite tough, you know,
02:28especially when I graduated from art school.
02:30All this concept and theory and a lot of bullshit about artwork.
02:35You know, this teapot talk about the space between the color
02:38and the relationship, all this.
02:41The first open house, when a lot of local tea lovers heard about it,
02:45then they came and looked at the teapot and told me that
02:48this is not the right size.
02:50Teapot should be smaller.
02:52Everything should be smaller.
02:54Teacup, teapot, or kind of one.
02:57And color shouldn't be the focus.
03:01In tea, it's very simple, very zen.
03:04Gong tau pei is called cup of fairness.
03:17So in English, I think it's pitcher.
03:20So we use this to distribute tea equally.
03:23So in this way, we try to keep the pouring very low,
03:35so the aroma won't disperse so fast.
03:39And when you sell tea, you want the aroma first,
03:42because people really can't taste much.
03:44So when they pour, they tend to look it very, very fast and very rough.
03:47So the aroma disperse in the air, and then the viewers say,
03:51wow.
03:52But for me, that's not the way.
03:54So I try to pour slowly.
03:57And then I start to introduce a spout at the guide one.
04:00So when the water flow, it's just like one tiny stream of tea flowing out.
04:04We are damn fast in society.
04:09We rush to wake up.
04:11We rush to eat our breakfast.
04:13We rush to work.
04:15And then we rush to come home.
04:17And then we got nothing to do.
04:28And tea is more about siew sen yang sing.
04:31So it's about developing our patience and nurture our inner strength.
04:38To actually slow down.
04:40When we rush, we often make mistakes.
04:43So when we calm down and actually take a deep breath,
04:46we can actually think clearly.
04:51In Damajirong, I would have a hot twist to you then.
04:54It's more for youth, at least, and elderly.
04:57And for elderly who actually retire,
05:00they have the most formed memories of Singapore.
05:03You know, we can brainstorm them
05:05and use some of the interesting memories of Singapore
05:08to form design and then translate that into pottery.
05:13This is bamboo orchid.
05:15Bamboo orchid is one of our Singapore native flowers.
05:18Although bamboo orchid is quite common in Southeast Asia.
05:21But it's something native to us.
05:23So when we present this as a national gift,
05:26we can actually explain about it.
05:28I think it will be very meaningful
05:31to have our own national gift,
05:35national paperware, national teaware.
05:39A lot of my friends told me that
05:42when they want to give to their friends from overseas
05:46a national product.
05:49They got nothing to eat.
05:51Which of the gifts we usually give to our friends
05:55is made in Singapore?
05:56By Singaporean.
05:57I think without that, it's very difficult to feel hope,
06:01you know, the identity of being a Singaporean.
06:05I don't have to teach.
06:08Just making teaware and coffeeware alone is enough for me to survive.
06:14Yeah, but it's also time to give back.
06:17It's more on using our own actions and how we talk,
06:22how we act, how we behave, to influence them.
06:26The youth varies.
06:28I think I'm taking the role more on a pottery instructor,
06:33but at the same time to share with them
06:36how pottery translates to life.
06:38By teaching them pottery from scratch, like from mud,
06:42to become an up piece.
06:44And then themselves can actually build up their self-esteem.
06:48The clay comes from mud, soy.
06:51My life was like soy, dirty,
06:53and with unnecessary rocks and sand.
06:57And then after that, being filtered into a clay.
07:00And then for clay,
07:02it means to do artwork.
07:04That's my life.
07:14It's amazing.
07:15Kindness.
07:16People are partes.
07:17Nice schle 유지?
07:18Yes.
07:19You can do artwork.
07:21Better Like Be aanship.
07:23Believe it or not,
07:24Your name isião said,
07:25Fruit of the
07:40Apprentice