The Singaporean Artist Who Had to Sue to Prove She Was Original

A Luxembourg art student copied Singaporean fashion photographer Zhang Jingna's photograph by flipping it, changing the colours, adding earrings and a sword, before calling it his own. His painting won a government backed prize and was presented to Luxembourg's princess. While fighting the case, Zhang had to face racist and sexist comments, and a court even ruled that Zhang's photograph lacked originality, before an appeal reversed it two years later. We trace how close the plan came to working, and what it took to stop it.

Tell You First is an original podcast produced by Mediacorp and Ministry of Funny (@ministryoffunny).

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Hosted and Produced by Terence Chia (@tchia) and Haresh Tilani (@hareshtilani)
Sound Engineering - Tristen Yeak (@yeakstreet)
Production Manager - Z’en Peck (@peck.takes.photos)
Commissioning Editor - Danny Koordi

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Podcast artwork by Denise Nicole Yap, you can reach her on Instagram @deniseardenise

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