Two cities, countless shared tales

CANTONMENT Road, Victoria Street and Armenian Street are all familiar landmarks to most Singaporeans. But rattle off these road names to Penang residents and chances are they too think of them fondly - but as places in Penang. Indeed, there are many similar road and building names in the two places because they share a history of being governed under the Bengal Presidency of British India from the 19th century on.

Even after Penang became a member state of Malaysia in 1963 and Singapore gained independence in 1965, the people of the two places continued to build strong ties with each other. As of last year, Singaporeans formed the bulk of heritage property investors in Penang.

A new art exhibition opening at the annual George Town Festival this weekend attempts to shed light on the historical links and similarities between the two. Titled Joined By The Crown: Parallel Visions In Penang & Singapore, the show is curated by Sharon Cheah Ui-hoon, a Penang-born Singapore-based arts journalist writing for The Business Times.