The Heartland, on a panel, represents the neighbourhood of Bishan, with the area's notable landmarks against a pink backdrop. The artist was one of the youngest to be commissioned for artwork on the CCL. He was selected to design the art at Bishan as it was believed his dynamic drawings would be engaging to the youth and families in the town. Soh initially planned to create an abstract work of people moving around to reflect the bustle of a train station. However, it was thought to be "too literal" and Karen Lim, the curator who was guiding the artist in his work, urged Soh to incorporate thematic stories into the work. Reflecting Lim's advice, each of the three art walls adopted a subject matter. Soh could not find inspiration from his first visit to Bishan and instead drew up murals centred on general life in Singapore – Garden Circus, The Control Room and The Living Room. The latter two developed into The Scientist and The Family respectively. Garden Circus, however, which illustrated the "pace of life" in Singapore, was withdrawn as it was considered "not strong enough conceptually". To overcome his mental block, the artist made another trip to Bishan and found inspiration for The Heartland. Though these artworks cover different subject matter, all express the artist's "silly and illogical" style. Usually, Soh's drawings are spontaneous, with the concepts produced "as an afterthought". In this work, however, Soh first devised various drafts and determined how to fuse the different parts into the final product. Being aware that his work would be a long-term feature of the station, Soh deeply considered the objects of his illustrations so that his work would remain relevant throughout time. The work was reproduced digitally and enlarged to fit on the walls. Soh inspected each of the panels shipped from overseas and oversaw the installation of his work in the station, working with the station architects and production team. As a tribute to them, the artist included depictions of workers with construction hats in The Heartland. Soh was grateful for the guidance from the curator, as this was one of his first major works: Soh had started drawing seriously two years prior. The curator suggested the artist "tone down" his murals to avoid the viewers being "drawn away" from the narratives. Lim also provided guidance towards finalising the design, as Soh kept inserting more features and