Snakes of Singapore: calm, peaceful and surprisingly charismatic

WHO knew snakes could be so charming? Certainly not the average mall-goer in Funan – until they wander into Juliette Yu-Ming Lizeray’s hiss-and-tell exhibition of snake paintings, each one coiled in colour and brimming with personality.

“A lot of people see snakes and get scared. But they’re actually quite peaceful and surprisingly calm,” says the anthropologist-turned-artist. “If you ever see a snake while walking, slowly back away. Snakes strike when they are startled or threatened – otherwise, they typically avoid confrontation.” 

Since Jan 17, Lizeray has been making a painting of a Singapore snake every day. She is set to complete 30 small paintings in 30 days. Then they will be sold or auctioned off on snakesofsingapore.com to raise funds for Singapore wildlife protection group Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (Acres).

Childhood fascination

For Lizeray, the fascination with these legless neighbours began in childhood. “We found a big skin of a python in the garden one day,” she recalls. “We never saw the actual python. It was just, like, a two-metre long skin. Instead of teaching me fear, my dad sparked my curiosity instead by explaining to me the phenomenon of snake skin.” 

That same curiosity now drives her to paint every kind of snake, from the boldly patterned paradise tree snake (immortalised in the swirl of the infinity symbol), to the quietly coiled eight-lined kukri snake arching its bright underbelly, to the red-tailed Racer slithering through a whimsical tableau of cartoon birds and insects.

Each painting tells a different story – in fact, the Malayan brown snake actually has an entire short story written out around its image. 

Lizeray admits: “I actually didn’t know how many snake varieties there were in Singapore at first.” But once she dug in – via old-school library books, herpetology websites and the Singapore Red Data Book, among other sources – she unearthed a trove of surprising truths, such as the existence of 69 snake species here.

Many of these species, she discovered, are critically endangered. “It makes me sad that there are so many species we know nothing about… and they might be heading to extinction. Many Singaporeans may never know that they exist here on this island.”

 Variety of styles

Some of the paintings pay homage to vintage zoological illustrations. Others embrace a whimsical, cartoony vibe – perfect for a child’s bedroom or play area.  “I get bored if it’s the same style over and over,” the artist admits with a laugh. “Every snake deserves its own aesthetic – something that captures its unique character.”

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Though trained in anthropology in the early 2000s, Lizeray shifted towards humanitarian projects, documentary filmmaking, and eventually exploring socially engaged art. Along the way, she found comics as a creative release. Her autobiographical comic about living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder garnered widespread attention and praise, while her short story submitted to Golden Point Award took home a top prize in 2023.

Now she hopes her brushstrokes and bright colours will spark empathy in a city where urbanites rarely have time to glance at the creatures hiding in the undergrowth.

“They’re not villains. They’re neighbours,” she says simply. “And maybe having one of these little paintings in our home, especially in the Year of the Snake, can remind us all of their right to exist alongside us on this island.”

Interested buyers can view Lizeray’s work online on snakesofsingapore.com, or visit the Green Collective SG eco-goods store in Funan mall. The auction begins on Feb 17 and every sale benefits Acres in its efforts to protect local wildlife.

Perhaps, if each small snake painting finds a home, the real-life serpents have a better chance of keeping theirs.