[top photo: This will be the first time Ms Kan is curating a show on her own.]

By Deepika Shetty

The magnificent dragon-decorated royal robes, elaborate scrolls and priceless porcelain on show in The Kangxi Emperor exhibition are about 300 years old.

But the show's curator is only 25.

Miss Kan Shuyi, assistant curator (East Asia) at the Asian Civilisations Museum, found herself dealing with priceless objects and using them to tell a dramatic story about the emperor.

She joined the museum's curatorial team in November 2006 as a temporary researcher.

One year later, she became an assistant curator.

Though she has worked on exhibitions such as Seeing Red: Propaganda And Material Culture In China (1966-1976) last year and Chinese Snuff Bottles in 2007, this is the first time she is curating a show on her own.

The soft-spoken history honours graduate from the National University of Singapore says seeing the artefacts and artworks for the Kangxi show for the first time surprised her.

'You can read everything about a 39m scroll, you can see all the pictures. But when you see it, the extent of detail, the overall effect, the artistic skills - everything throws you off.'

The show's opening represents a dream come true for her.

She says the sleepless nights and last-minute frenzy to get things done have all been worthwhile.

The only child of an engineer father and a school teacher mother, she has loved visiting museums since she was a child.

She says: 'My parents enjoy art and history as much as I do and always took me to museums.

'So working in a museum was something I explored seriously when I was in college.'


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This article was first published in The Straits Times.

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