Latte Siu Dai by Isabella Teng

Isabella Teng

Latte Siu Dai, 2007

oil on canvas

100 x 100 cm

I include this work because of fond memories of the first oil painting I attempted when I was 17. Fourteen years on, I can see that the questions I asked then still drive me today.

In Singapore, we have the curious experience of having, side-by-side, the local coffeeshop where you can get your daily coffee or tea, and the generic Starbucks or global coffee chains. We pride ourselves upon the specific local lingo (shared with Malaysia and largely inspired by Hokkien) used to order variations of coffee (kopi) and tea (teh) : kopi (coffee with sugar and condensed milk); teh o siu dai (tea with no milk and less sugar); kopi c (coffee with sugar evaporated milk)... so on and so forth. It is a secret language we share.

This locally-derived language runs parallel to the menus of global coffee chains, which speak of cappuccinos, lattes, espressos - names derived from a very different source.

These differences in language amuse me, and they are part of what makes life interesting.