Yanyun Chen and Dave Lim reflect on how childhood discipline is remembered within Singapore’s culture of over-compliance. Shaped by the belief that hardship builds character, discipline—often framed as distinct from punishment—was widely accepted as a way of cultivating obedience and respectability in children.

Lim’s experience, which did not involve physical discipline, offers a counterpoint to a generation for whom such practices were common. For many, these painful memories are later softened through humour to ease fear and reframe enforced compliance as resilience.

This exhibition invites audiences to reflect on their own upbringing: how childhood pain and fear may linger in the body, and how stories of domestic discipline can be acknowledged, healed and reimagined.