Han Sai Por (Chinese: 韓少芙; born 19 July 1943) is a Singaporean sculptor and artist. A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), East Ham College of Art, Wolverhampton College of Art (now the School of Art and Design of the University of Wolverhampton), and Lincoln University, New Zealand, she worked as a teacher and later as a part-time lecturer at NAFA, the LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, and the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, before becoming a full-time artist in 1997.
Han has participated in exhibitions locally and abroad, including events in China, Denmark, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, and South Korea. Her first solo exhibition, entitled Four Dimensions, was held at the National Museum Art Gallery in 1993. Her sculptures can be found around the world, in Osaka and Shōdoshima, Kagawa Prefecture, in Japan; Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak in Malaysia; and Washington, D.C., in Singapore, sculptures commissioned from her can be seen at Capital Tower, the Defence Science Organisation National Laboratories, the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, the National Museum of Singapore, Revenue House, Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3, Suntec City Mall, and Woodlands Regional Library. In 2001, Han was the founding President of the Sculpture Society (Singapore) and remains its Honorary President. She was the first artist in residence at the Society's Sculpture Pavilion at Fort Canning Park in 2009, where she worked on sculptures made from the trunks of tembusu trees.
Han is probably best known for her stone sculptures with organic forms, examples of which include Growth (1985), Spirit of Nature (1988), Object C (1992), and Seeds (2006). The last work, presently located in the grounds of the National Museum, consists of two large kernels carved from sandstone excavated from Fort Canning Hill during the Museum's redevelopment. However, her oeuvre is broad, and includes Four Dimensions (1993), a collection of geometrical structures, and 20 Tonnes (2002), also installed at the Museum, which consists of a row of six ridged monolithic blocks with a smaller block at either end, all hewn from a single granite rock.
For her contributions to art, Han was conferred the Cultural Medallion for Art in 1995. She was also the winner of the sculpture and painting section at the 11th Triennale – India organized by the Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art of India) in 2005, and the Outstanding City Sculpture Award in China the following year. In 2014, she was inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.
Han Sai Por was born on 19 July 1943 in Singapore during the Japanese occupation. She was one of six children of a poor couple, and her family were squatters living in Changi in a house made of cardboard boxes and coconut leaves. Nonetheless, Han had a happy childhood, and went to a nearby beach to make figurine animals out of sand. This experience helped her to appreciate nature and instilled in her a sense of adventure and exploration. At ten years of age, Han was introduced to Michelangelo's sculptures through a book given to her by her mother.
Han was educated at Yock Eng High School (now Yuying Secondary School) and subsequently at the Singapore Teachers' Training College between 1965 and 1968. While working as a teacher, she attended part-time courses at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) from 1975 to 1977. Having saved some money, she went to the United Kingdom where she studied fine art at the East Ham College of Art (1979–1980) and the Wolverhampton College of Art (1980–1983), receiving a B.A. (Hons.) in Fine Art from the latter. She worked as a cook, hotel maid, waitress, and street artist to support herself.
Han returned to Singapore in 1983 and was one of the two pioneer teachers appointed to the new Arts Elective Programme at the Nanyang Girls' High School. In 1987, to support her personal artistic endeavours, Han also began to teach part-time at NAFA, the LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts (both 1987–1993), and the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (1994–1996). Subsequently, she pursued further studies in landscape architecture at Lincoln University in Lincoln, Canterbury, in New Zealand.
Han has participated in exhibitions locally and abroad, including events in China, Denmark, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, and South Korea. Over 24 hours between New Year's Eve 1989 and New Year's Day 1990, she took part in The Time Show organised by The Artists Village, which has been described as "definitely a high point in the history of art in Singapore when an exceptionally wide spectrum of artists expressing in an equally wide range of mediums participated in a single art event". Han's first solo exhibition was Four Dimensions at the National Museum Art Gallery from 18 to 28 February 1993. Other solo shows she has given in Singapore are Rainforest (Plastique Kinetic Worms, 1999) and 20 Tonnes – Physical Consequences (Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts ARTrium, 2002).
Han became a full-time sculptor in 1997. Her works can be found around the world: Childhood Dream (1992) at the Uchinomi-cho Town Hall Garden on the island of Shōdoshima in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan; Pisces (1993) at the Yashiro Hoshi-no Choukoku Centre Park in Osaka, Japan; Spirit of Nature III (1990) at the Kuching Waterfront Development in Sarawak, Malaysia; Towards Peace (1987) in the Kuala Lumpur Lake Gardens, Malaysia; and Cactus, Tropical Leaves (both 1994) and The Wave of Life at the Embassy of Singapore in Washington, D.C. in Singapore, sculptures commissioned from her can be seen at Capital Tower (Shimmering Pearls I, 1999), the Defence Science Organisation National Laboratories (Tropical Brain Forest, 2003), the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay (Seed Series, 1998), the National Museum of Singapore (20 Tonnes, 2002; and Seeds, 2006), One Marina Boulevard (Progressive Flows, 2004), Orchard MRT station (Goddess of Happiness, 1985), Revenue House (Spring, 1996), Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 (Flora Inspiration, 2007), Singapore Changi Airport VIP Complex (Singapore – A Garden City, 2004), Suntec City Mall (Chinese Zodiac Medallions, 1995), UOB Plaza (Two Figures, 1993), and Woodlands Regional Library (Rain Forest).
In 2001, Han was the founding President of the Sculpture Society (Singapore), and remains its Honorary President. In May 2009, she was the first artist in residence at the Society's Sculpture Pavilion at Fort Canning Park where she worked on sculptures made from the trunks of tembusu trees. The project, sponsored by the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Inspire Programme, was intended to provide sculptors and installation artists with studio space and a chance to interact with the public in a park environment. Han was a member of the Fourth Singapore Note and Coin Advisory Committee between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2011, where her duties included advising the Monetary Authority of Singapore on designs for new currency.
In 2005, with the assistance of the National Arts Council (NAC) and the Jurong Town Corporation (JTC), she relocated from Seletar Air Base to Workloft@Wessex, a walk-up apartment in Wessex Estate which had been converted by JTC from an army camp into an artists' village. In 2006, Han held a charity arts exhibition with other artists such as Chua Ek Kay and Chng Seok Tin. The proceeds from the exhibition were donated to help victims of the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake. In 2008, she received a S$80,000 grant by the National Arts Council as part of her receiving the Cultural Medallion. Han used this grant to create a set of works based on Singaporean flora. In 2010, Han held an exhibition titled The Changing Landscape at the Luxe Art Museum, in which she addressed deforestation and destruction in Singapore. In 2011, Han held a solo exhibition titled The Black Forest. She would remaster The Black Forest in 2013, when she held an exhibition at the NAFA Gallery called Black Forest, which had similar messages of deforestation to the 2011 exhibition. Black Forest featured a pair of charred logs lying over charcoal with stumps standing nearby.