A Message to My Descendants — and to Future Generations I am writing this while I am still here—not as a farewell, but as a thought for those who will come after me. Since the early 1970s, I have devoted a large part of my life to creating art. Over the decades, I have made paintings, drawings, and many other works. Each work carries something of my journey: what I saw, what I experienced, what I learned, what I felt, and how I responded to the world at different moments of my life. I have never believed that an artwork is only an object. A painting can be a record of a moment. A drawing can preserve a thought. A line can carry a feeling. A collection of works can become a record of a life. Today, many of my works are already held in the collections of the Singapore Art Museum, corporations, banks, oil companies, government departments, and private collectors. A large number of other works remain preserved in my own warehouses and collections. Most of these works have also been properly documented and are available online. Because of this, I hope my descendants will understand that my artworks do not have to disappear when I am gone. Paintings and other artworks, when properly cared for, documented and conserved, can survive for generations and, in some cases, for centuries. Their materials may age, and individual works may require restoration or conservation, but their existence and meaning can continue long after the artist has passed away. I hope, therefore, that my descendants will make good and thoughtful use of these works. Please do not feel that everything must be kept simply because I created it. Instead, I hope you will look at the works, learn about them, understand their stories, and decide wisely what should happen to them. Some works may be meaningful to preserve as part of our family history. Some may be suitable for museums, exhibitions, publications, research or education. Some may bring happiness to people who encounter them. Some may inspire another artist or encourage someone, perhaps many years from now, to begin creating. Let those works continue their journey. I also hope that you will remember that these artworks are not necessarily valuable only because of their monetary worth. Their value may lie in the stories they carry, the ideas they express, the time in which they were created, and the opportunity they provide for future generations to see, question, learn and discover. I have always enjoyed learning through the process of making art. Every painting has taught me something. Every experiment, every unexpected result, every mistake, every line, every colour and every decision has been part of that learning. Perhaps these works can continue to teach others after I am gone. That would be one of the greatest things I could hope for. I do not know what the world will look like many decades or even centuries from now. I do not know how people will see my work in the future, or whether they will find it important. I do not expect every work to be admired or preserved forever. But I hope that some of them will continue to have a life. If a painting can bring someone joy, let it be seen. If a work can help someone learn, let it be studied. If it can inspire someone to create, let it inspire. If it can tell someone something about the time and place in which I lived, let it tell its story. And if a particular work has special meaning for our family, preserve it as a small connection between generations. My descendants are not merely the people who inherit my possessions. They are the people who may carry something of my journey into the future. I hope you will therefore see these artworks not simply as things that I left behind, but as traces of a life lived through observation, learning, curiosity and creativity. The artist will eventually be gone. The materials will gradually change. Some works may be lost, some may be restored, some may move from one collection to another, and some may eventually find new homes. That is part of the life of art. What matters to me is that the journey does not necessarily end with the life of the person who created it. If, many years from now, someone stands before one of my paintings and pauses to look at it carefully, perhaps wondering who made it and what that person was thinking, then a small part of my journey will still be continuing. That is enough. I hope my descendants will take good care of these traces, but more importantly, I hope they will make good use of them. Preserve them when they deserve to be preserved. Share them when they can be shared. Let them teach when they can teach. Let them inspire when they can inspire. And allow them, whenever possible, to continue living in the world. I will not be here forever. But perhaps some of what I have created will remain. And through those traces, a little part of my journey may continue across generations. — Prabhakara Jimmy Quek