What fuels the creative spirit? Passion – that’s right! Through Passion Pursuits, our short-form documentary series, we’re celebrating the diverse talents of Singaporeans who have overcome challenges and forged their own paths in the creative industry. Step into Scuro with Merida, a studio filled with neon art and add some glow to the dark!
Right in the centre of the city, there’s a darkened studio only illuminated by the dim beams of the lamps attached atop each easel and the multi-coloured neon of several bottles. It’s quiet and cool; you see rows and rows of people adding life to their paintings with each swish of their brushes.
You sit before your own easel, blank canvas before you and paintbrush in hand; what will you create? Choose your colours, take a deep breath and pour your heart onto the canvas. Each stroke provides a meditative rhythm, where each line is brought forth by your subconscious – there is no right and wrong here, only what you decide and choose to make.
For 19-year-old Merida Lim, that’s what it meant to create art, especially in the genre she prefers – horror art. “You want to express your innermost thoughts and feelings. You don’t really have a plan to make it beautiful and palatable to other people.” That was why she began SCURO, a neon art jamming studio in Outram Park.
Unlike other art jamming places, SCURO is coated wall-to-wall in black paint, with an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ theme decorating the walls. Neon hues glow softly, creating a sense of mystique and fantasy. A popular style overseas, neon art jamming is surprisingly an unexplored avenue here in Singapore.
But that was not how SCURO started. All Merida wants is to create a safe space for her visitors and those who find solace in art. Art has been a source of escape when Merida was struggling with her mental health in school. “Having your consciousness on like a canvas is just so liberating,” she reflects. You don’t have to keep it within you anymore, kind of like journaling.”
When creating for herself, Merida’s style is far from what the studio showcases to its visitors. As an emotional person, what she creates tends to be very extreme. After all, there’s no need to care about what others think. True freedom and power is the ability to give herself the room to paint whatever she wants, as Merida contends.
Let’s rewind to the beginning. Originally, Merida had rented an art studio out in Pasir Ris to test out the demand for horror art jamming – the complete opposite end of the island from where she lived. While there was demand, the profit margins were too low after factoring in all the costs required.
It wasn’t long before burnout set in and Merida realised that this wasn’t sustainable for both her mental health and the business. Her search for a permanent art studio started and when she stumbled upon SCURO’s current location, she poured S$20,000 to secure it – S$10,000 from her life savings and S$10,000 from her parents. With the help of her family and friends, Merida was able to transform the place into the studio it is today!
But why did neon art jamming become the face of SCURO? Well, Merida had two reasons. Neon art jamming brought out the fantastical side of her, allowing the studio to embody an atmosphere of magic and give its visitors a sense of childlike wonder.
Also, from a practical point of view, neon art jamming was simply more profitable. The concept set SCURO apart from other art jamming studios while still retaining that sense of uniqueness. Horror art just wasn’t a niche that appealed to everyone. “Business is like dating,” Merida says. “When you first date someone, you don’t marry them. So, you need to look through a lot of different ideas and then go and test out each of them, you know?”
But things weren’t smooth sailing from the get-go. The footfall around her studio wasn’t amazing and she needed something to put SCURO on people’s radars. And where do people around her age go the most? TikTok—where Merida and her friends shared her story through quirky and bright videos! And their efforts finally paid off when Merida and SCURO got noticed by Singapore’s biggest influencer: Jianhao Tan.
As a fan of the influencer since she was young, this opportunity to host him and his family at the studio for a class was mindblowing to her. From here, things started looking up. With SCURO having gone viral, the art studio was finally able to break even with many new bookings on their kids neon art lessons, even garnering collaborations with organisations like Radical Kindness. Beyond that, Merida was able to meet other well-known names in Singapore like Ridhwan and share her story on air on 987.
But why did she push so hard for SCURO to stay afloat? “People actually told me that it was an important place for them, a safe place for them, it just made me feel I have to do it,” Merida says. “It was a combination of naivete and unearned confidence, money and like, actual demand that led me to make this studio.”
However, despite finding success, fear and doubt still creep up from time to time. “What if I’m abandoning my true purpose and abandoning my mission to the horror [genre]?” Merida wonders. “But the thing is, if this place dies, then there will be no horror art jamming in the entire world. So I have to keep it alive with something that is profitable.”
With SCURO, Merida is one step closer to her dream of creating a little bubble for people to rest and seek comfort in. The studio embodies her personal motto of creating whatever you want – no rigidity and hard instructions here! “I think it’s so beautiful when people do [art] because it shows how expressive humanity can be.”
Hear From Merida Herself!
Wanna see the safe space Merida carved out and lit up? Be sure to check out the full episode on the Passion Pursuits YouTube channel and find out more about Merida’s journey with SCURO! If this has intrigued you enough to want to visit the space yourself, head down to SCURO’s website to book a neon art jamming session for yourself or with a friend!
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Cover photo by Passion Pursuits.
