In Full Bloom: CJ Hendry Comes to Singapore
The art event everyone is talking about. Two world premieres. Five extraordinary weeks. One artist who keeps breaking the rules — and the crowds.
The Woman Who Turned the Art World Upside Down
It began, as so many things do today, with a scroll. Somewhere around 2024, a video started circulating — a vast white tent packed to the rafters with 100,000 plush flowers in every colour imaginable, set up on Roosevelt Island in the East River in New York City. People were wandering through it like a dream, picking blooms and clutching armfuls of soft petals. The queues stretched for hours. The police eventually had to shut it down because too many people showed up. The whole thing was completely free.
The artist behind it, a quietly determined Australian named CJ Hendry, watched from the sidelines as her creation broke the internet. She'd already relocated the installation overnight to a 19,000-square-foot industrial event space in Brooklyn after the crowds overwhelmed Roosevelt Island — an emergency pivot executed with such grace that it only added to the mythology. Hendry has a gift not just for making art, but for making moments.
Now, for the first time in Southeast Asia, Singapore is about to have its own moment. Flower Market opens at IMBA Theatre in Gardens by the Bay on 10 June 2026, running for just five days. And hot on its heels — once the last plush petal is cleared away — the venue transforms for the world premiere of JuJu World, an entirely new installation running until 18 July. Together, they represent the most ambitious presentation of Hendry's work anywhere in the world.
"These activations represent our shared emotion and universal experiences, from curiosity to adolescence and nostalgia. Art is meant for everyone." — CJ Hendry
The Artist
Born in Durban. Raised in Brisbane. Conquered New York.
Catherine Jenna Hendry was born in South Africa in 1988 and grew up in Brisbane, Australia — a detail that might seem unremarkable until you understand how far it is from the epicentres of the contemporary art world she would eventually reshape. She studied architecture at Queensland University of Technology and finance at the University of Queensland. She was, by her own admission, a terrible student. "I was way more interested in working than studying," she has said. In 2013, she gave herself twelve months to see whether the art thing could work. Here we are, more than a decade later.
What Hendry stumbled upon was a technique she describes as "scribbling" — a laborious, self-developed method of applying pen or coloured pencil to paper in dense, layered strokes that produce results of near-photographic resolution. Her early works were black-and-white hyperrealistic drawings of luxury objects: a pair of R.M. Williams boots that sold for $10,000; a crumpled Gucci shopping bag that fetched $50,000 from a Macquarie Bank executive. Each piece demanded up to 200 hours of focused work.
But Hendry's genius was never purely technical. While her peers were vying for gallery representation, she built her audience on Instagram — posting process videos, finished works, and glimpses of her Brooklyn studio to a community that grew to hundreds of thousands of followers. She bypassed the traditional gatekeepers entirely. "In the past, artists had to wait for a gallery to do your show," she told CNN. "Now you can show people whatever you want at any time you wish."
Her collaborators read like a luxury fashion house's invite list: Christian Louboutin (for whom she produced hyperreal paintings of vibrant paint blobs in 2017, marking her first use of colour); fans including Kanye West and Pharrell Williams; and Martha Stewart, who turned up unannounced at the New York Flower Market and was photographed picking armfuls of plush blooms, sending the event's already considerable media coverage into overdrive.
Each Hendry exhibition evolves her central preoccupation: the relationship between everyday objects, consumer culture, and emotional response. She has reimagined Andy Warhol's Polaroids. She has built a temporary Olympic-sized swimming pool in the Las Vegas desert. She has blanketed a reimagined 1830s Georgian church in falling white petals. The Flower Market and JuJu World are the latest chapters in a practice that keeps finding new ways to make people feel something.
Artist at a Glance
Full name: Catherine Jenna Hendry Born: 1988, Durban, South Africa Raised: Brisbane, Australia Based: Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York Style: Hyperrealism; large-scale immersive installation First significant sale: R.M. Williams boots drawing, $10,000 (2014) Career start: 2013 — dropped out of university to pursue art full-time Notable collaborations: Christian Louboutin, Andy Warhol estate Famous visitors: Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Martha Stewart
Event One: Flower Market
Southeast Asian Premiere · 10–14 June 2026 · Free Entry
Picture a traditional flower market — the kind you find in Amsterdam or Tokyo before dawn, with traders hauling crates and the scent of fresh stems hanging in the cool air. Now remove the scent. Remove the stems. Replace every single bloom with a soft, plush, vividly coloured handcrafted flower. Fill every surface with them. Pack the crates. Stack them to the ceiling. Then fling open the doors and invite the public to wander in and take one home for free.
This is the Flower Market.
When it debuted on Roosevelt Island in New York in autumn 2024, the response was unlike anything the art world had seen from a single installation in years. The NYPD shut down the island due to overcrowding. Hendry relocated it overnight to Brooklyn, and by morning there was already a queue of a thousand people. On its final day in the city a year later, at Rockefeller Center, reports emerged of a three-hour wait. Martha Stewart came to pick flowers. People drove across state lines. Entire families blocked out weekends.
The installation then went to Asia — first to Hong Kong's Central Harbourfront in early 2026, where it drew crowds across the harbour with over 150,000 plush flower pieces on display. Then, this June, it makes its Southeast Asian debut in Singapore, and it has been tailored specifically for the occasion.
What's Inside
The Singapore edition features over 30 flower varieties, including eight designed exclusively for this stop on the tour and not available anywhere else:
Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim (Singapore's national flower)
Raffles' Pitcher Plant
Singapore Ginger Flower
Five further Singapore-exclusive varieties
Other varieties include roses, sunflowers, chrysanthemums, narcissi, thistles, violets, and lilies — all rendered in Hendry's signature plush soft-sculpture style, in vivid, oversized form.
What Happens Inside
The experience is designed to be the opposite of a traditional gallery. There are no Do Not Touch signs. No velvet ropes. No hushed reverence. Instead, visitors wander freely through rows of oversized plush flowers arranged in crates, as if browsing a real market. Every registered attendee receives one complimentary flower to take home. Additional flowers start from $7 each.
The visit is self-paced, with each session capped at approximately one hour — enough time to browse properly, build a considered bouquet, and take the kind of photographs that will make people back home ask where on earth you were. The greenhouse-like environment inside IMBA Theatre is designed to feel lush, immersive, and slightly surreal: real enough to trigger the pleasure of a flower market, clearly artificial enough to make you smile at the conceit.
Essential Information
Dates: 10–14 June 2026 (five days only) Hours: 9am–9pm daily; last entry 8pm Venue: IMBA Theatre, #01-24, 18 Marina Gardens Drive, Singapore 018953 (West Lawn, beside Bayfront Plaza, Gardens by the Bay) Admission: Free — pre-registration strongly recommended; walk-ins welcome subject to capacity Flowers: One complimentary plush flower per registered visitor; additional flowers from $7 MRT: Bayfront Station (CE1/DT16), Exit B — short flat walk Register: imbaglobal.com or cjhendrystudio.com
Event Two: JuJu World
World Premiere · 20 June – 18 July 2026 · Ticketed
Once Flower Market closes its doors on 14 June, the crew moves in. Within days, IMBA Theatre will be unrecognisable. Where plush botanicals once stood, a vast yellow inflatable universe is taking shape — a surreal, dreamlike space built around one of CJ Hendry's most beloved creations: JuJu.
JuJu is a bunny-like collectible character, instantly recognisable by its long floppy ears and a distinctive flower motif over one eye. It sits somewhere between cute and unsettling — soft pastel palette, expressive face, a sort of serene weirdness that has made it a cult object among collectors since its debut. JuJu has appeared across a growing range of collectibles, from blind box keychains to special themed releases, and has accumulated a devoted following that tracks each new colourway and edition with the seriousness of a sneaker release.
The Singapore installation is the world's first JuJu World, and it exists in a colourway — yellow — that has never been seen before and will never appear again elsewhere. The space includes a giant inflatable JuJu structure, a sea of yellow balls, and immersive play areas designed to feel less like a gallery and more like stepping inside a particularly vivid fever dream.
Hendry has gone further for Singapore: she has designed exclusive outfits and hair accessories for the Singapore-edition JuJu collectibles. Limited, large-sized JuJus will be crafted specifically for the event and sold nowhere else once it ends. Once 18 July passes, the yellow universe is dismantled, and the moment is over.
"JuJu World marks the first and only time the experience will appear in yellow anywhere in the world." — IMBA Theatre, Official Programme
The collectible toy market has been one of the most unexpected growth stories in contemporary art and consumer culture over the past decade. What began with blind box figures from Asian brands has evolved into a global phenomenon attracting serious collectors alongside casual fans. Hendry understood this shift early and has navigated it with characteristic shrewdness — building genuine scarcity, genuine exclusivity, and genuine emotional resonance into every JuJu release. The Singapore event is the fullest expression of that yet.
Essential Information
Dates: 20 June – 18 July 2026 Venue: IMBA Theatre, Gardens by the Bay (same location as Flower Market) Admission: Ticketed — pricing to be confirmed closer to opening What's exclusive to Singapore: World-first yellow colourway; limited large-sized JuJus; exclusive outfits and accessories designed by Hendry Important note: Singapore-exclusive pieces will not be sold anywhere else after 18 July. This is not marketing language — it is how Hendry operates. Register interest: imbaglobal.com — early registrants receive priority notification when tickets open
The Venue
IMBA Theatre: Singapore's Newest Cultural Landmark
CJ Hendry's Singapore debut is not happening in a converted warehouse or a temporary tent. It's happening inside a brand new building — one that opened just weeks ago and is already reshaping what's possible for the arts in this city.
IMBA Theatre officially opened at Gardens by the Bay on 21 April 2026, unveiled by Singapore's Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth. It is the city-state's first venue purpose-built for large-scale immersive storytelling and gallery exhibitions, and at over 80,000 square feet, it has the infrastructure to match its ambitions. The complex includes a major gallery, two purpose-built black box theatres with state-of-the-art projection and sound technology, a retail store (IMBA Stacked Store), and a wellness dining concept (Realm Café) opening in June.
Its opening exhibitions set the tone immediately: the world's first tri-format experience dedicated to Colombian artist Fernando Botero, developed in collaboration with the Fernando Botero Foundation; and the Southeast Asia premiere of David Hockney: Bigger & Closer, the Lightroom UK production that uses six decades of Hockney's work projected across walls ten metres high, narrated by the artist himself, with an original score by composer Nico Muhly. IMBA is already the only venue in Southeast Asia authorised to present Lightroom's work.
For CJ Hendry's installations, the venue provides not just space but context. Flower Market and JuJu World are among the first events at IMBA designed for mass public participation — a democratising gesture in a building that might otherwise feel intimidating. Located on the West Lawn beside Bayfront Plaza, a short walk from Bayfront MRT, it is as accessible as it is architecturally significant.
Full Timeline
10 June (Wednesday) — Flower Market opens. Southeast Asian debut. Free admission from 9am; last entry 8pm. Pre-registered visitors collect their complimentary flower at the entrance.
10–14 June — Flower Market runs. Over 30 varieties including 8 Singapore-exclusive flowers. Each visit approximately one hour. Additional flowers from $7.
14 June (Sunday) — Flower Market closes. The final day will be the busiest. Singapore-exclusive flowers may sell out before closing — arrive early.
15–19 June — IMBA Theatre transforms. Flower Market is dismantled and the JuJu World installation is assembled: giant inflatable structure, sea of yellow balls, immersive play spaces.
20 June (Saturday) — JuJu World opens. Global world premiere. Ticketed. The yellow colourway exists only in Singapore. Limited large-sized exclusive JuJus go on sale.
18 July (Saturday) — JuJu World closes. Singapore-exclusive pieces will not be available for sale anywhere else after this date. The yellow universe is dismantled. The moment passes.
How to Make the Most of It
For Flower Market
Pre-register online. The event is free but draws enormous crowds — in New York, queues stretched for hours even before opening, and the NYPD shut down one entire island due to overcrowding. Pre-registration on the IMBA website secures your time slot and guarantees your complimentary flower. Walk-ins are accepted subject to capacity, but don't risk it.
Go early on a weekday. The opening morning and the final day will be the busiest. Tuesday to Thursday mornings, when the doors open at 9am, will offer the most relaxed experience and the best conditions for photographs.
Budget for extra flowers. The Singapore-exclusive varieties — the Miss Joaquim orchid, the Pitcher Plant, the Ginger Flower — are only available here. If you want them, they start from $7 each. Once the event closes on 14 June, they are gone.
Allow a full hour. Visits are capped at approximately 60 minutes, which is plenty of time to browse, build a bouquet, and take in the installation properly. Don't rush it.
Wear something that photographs well. This is not vanity; it's pragmatic. The market is designed as a visual experience and the colours are extraordinary. Every previous stop on the tour has produced iconic photographs — Singapore's will be no different.
For JuJu World
Register your interest now. IMBA's website takes early registrations, and early registrants receive priority notification when tickets open. Given the global premiere status and the Singapore-exclusive yellow colourway, demand is expected to be significant.
Collectors: visit early in the run. Limited large-sized JuJu pieces and exclusive Singapore-edition collectibles will be available while stocks last. Once the event closes on 18 July, they will not be sold anywhere. Visit early to ensure you have the full selection available to you.
Bring children. JuJu World is designed as a playful, surreal environment with a sea of yellow balls and inflatable spaces. The character straddles cute and eccentric in a way that lands beautifully for younger visitors. This is genuinely for all ages.
Follow Hendry on Instagram (@cj_hendry). She frequently drops new details, exclusive reveals, and practical updates directly to her audience. For a limited-edition event like JuJu World, her social channels carry information before it appears anywhere else.
Getting There
IMBA Theatre sits on the West Lawn of Gardens by the Bay, beside Bayfront Plaza. By MRT, take the Circle Line or Downtown Line to Bayfront Station (CE1/DT16) and use Exit B — it is a short, flat walk from there, even in Singapore's June heat. Taxis and ride-hailing apps drop off conveniently at the Marina Bay Sands area. If you are combining the visit with a full day out, the Gardens themselves are spectacular and the Supertree Grove is a five-minute stroll.
Why It Matters
It would be easy, and not entirely wrong, to describe CJ Hendry's work as the art world's most effective generator of social media content. The photographs practically take themselves. The queues are part of the mythology. The free flower is a genius act of marketing disguised as generosity — or perhaps vice versa.
But to reduce Hendry's practice to content is to miss what makes it genuinely interesting. Her work sits at an unusual intersection: technically demanding (those hyperrealistic drawings require weeks of unbroken concentration), conceptually coherent (she has spent a decade examining consumer culture, desire, and the emotional weight of objects), and stubbornly populist in the best sense. Her installations are free to enter. They are designed to be touched. They go to where audiences are, rather than waiting for audiences to come to them. They make people of all ages feel something real.
For Singapore specifically, the timing is significant. IMBA Theatre has opened with a clear statement of intent — that this city can host the kind of large-scale cultural programming that previously required a trip to London, New York, or Seoul. Hendry's Singapore run is the first test of that ambition at the level of genuine mass engagement: an installation that has already proven, in multiple cities on multiple continents, that people will queue for hours for the chance to pick a plush flower. That is not a trivial achievement. That is art doing exactly what it is supposed to do.
"These are bold and imaginative experiences that add to Singapore's growing pipeline of world-class events." — Singapore Tourism Board
Whether you come for the flowers, for the JuJu, for the photographs, or simply because you are curious about an artist who relocated her entire installation overnight to accommodate a thousand people who showed up before dawn — you should come. This kind of thing doesn't happen twice. Well, actually, it does: it is happening twice, in five extraordinary weeks, right here in Singapore. Don't miss either one.
CJ Hendry's Flower Market & JuJu WorldIMBA Theatre, Gardens by the Bay, 18 Marina Gardens Drive, Singapore 018953Flower Market: 10–14 June 2026 (Free) · JuJu World: 20 June – 18 July 2026 (Ticketed)imbaglobal.com · cjhendrystudio.com · @cj_hendry
