It's unclear if what looks like a cluster of people on the left in presumably an automated people mover (APM) are instead a train coach or viewed from a casement of a passing APM on the opposite side of commuters standing in wait. This transit system is viewed by the artist Phuan Thai Meng as a habitat by itself, with all the socio-economic ethos, whether the commuters are white-collared or blue-collared employees going to and from work or those venturing forth seeking entertainment or food. Focus is on the putative glass cage with the people's backs turned for anonymity and from different backgrounds and economic status. The whole composition is awash in sepia tones accentuated with deep shadows in places, while the collage of armadillo-like ‘scales' could simulate a sense of movement from the light breeze or sequential placements. While nano-nanoo teleporting is still a fantasy, mass movement of peoples across vast city terrain has become a de rigueur way of life. Phuan Thai Meng, a founding member of the artist's cooperative Rumah Air Panas, is a multi-media artist working on paintings, installations and performance, on contemporary issues of modern social conditions and infrastructure, rapid urbanisation complete with neglect, mildew and structural decay. He was selected for the 7th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, Australia in 2012-2013, together with Roslisham Ismail, and his works are in the collection of the Singapore Art Museum, The Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art Australia. He was one of the Malaysian winners of the 2000 Philip Morris Asean Art Awards, and won the Silver Award in the UOB Painting of the Year in 2018. His solo shows were Hey Malaysia, Something You ( ) Leave Behind!, OUR Art Projects 2017; Mapping Homeland: We Are Proud Of You (? ?), VWFA Singapore 2011; The WE Project, RKFA, KL 2010; Made In Malaysia VWFA KL 2009; and PTM0001020304 (RAP, KL 2004). He was educated at the Malaysian Institute of Art (1993-1996). Thai Meng's auction record was set at Christie's November 2011 Hong Kong Auction when his Road To … (2009) registered a premium of US$20,946 (approx. RM86,491). In Malaysia, his Solution sold for RM24,640 at the Henry Butcher November 2014 Auction.