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Monthly Archives: February 2017
oot and aboot in sembawang
sehm-bah-wahng or suhm-bah-wahng, however you call it, was “my area” a long time back. since we moved to singapore, we’ve shifted a grand total of about 6 houses and the sembawang house would be #3. initially i was intending to look for my old house but since my mother gave me the wrong block number (typo lol) my search ended pretty fast bc there was no such block there. so i decided, since i quite literally haven’t been here since i moved in like 2004 or 2005, i might as well have a look-see to see if i can remember anything.
spoiler alert: i couldn’t.
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the first thing i looked at was sun plaza. all i could remember was how much it changed.
(img from propertyguru)
this was what it looked like back when i lived there
(img from sunplaza.sg)
this is what it looks like now. so you can see i was very unsettled when i got out of the mrt looking out from the platform. the inside was also completely different and i felt like my memories were disappearing (ok it wasn’t so dramatic but the difference was really overwhelming). i was like, where’s the ECON? and the seagull pots-n-pans-n-stuff store? where am i????
this gave me an idea to see what has changed in sembawang in the last 12ish years. unfortunately for me, aside from sun plaza, i didn’t remember anything else. not even my block #, let alone the compound and the environment back then. so i thought, okay, let me just walk around to see what was here. i didn’t want to do the Hot Springs like some basic person, because you could find that on google easily. i was also secretly hoping to see SembWaste because i thought the Semb stood for sembawang. after getting home from the recce i did a google search.
clearly i was off.
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i went in a circle, starting from the interchange and around the neighbourhood and ending back at sun plaza.
welcome 2 sembawang
didn’t want to just take a photo of her without giving her money for tissue (didn’t have cash on me) but the lady with the grey hair sitting on a chair is the tissue aunty
Overall, Sembawang was a really peaceful neighbourhood. Probably because it was on a weekday, but even then the entire area has this aura that i’d only felt before in some village in india. it was a sort of peace that is rare to find in singapore. even without people hustling and bustling, my area is still congested and feels crowded 24/7. this neighbourhood was spacious, and there was a lot of space which allowed for wind to pass through and the walk was nice and breezy. the mrt station itself was probably the only thing that has remained the same throughout the years, but the rest of the area still had that calmness that many areas have lost over the years. there was also a lot more greenery, and not just grass patches or designated areas like parks. there was wild vegetation growing which looked a lot like the areas in the exhibition at CCA which we went to last sem for 4D. sadly the area with the MH13 thing is getting converted into a condo which is quite disappointing because honestly i feel like if they DIE DIE had to build something, a new set of HDB flats would better help the people imo. but best if the land could just be left alone which, in sg, we all know is impossible. which sucks, but i’m not an MP so what do i do HAHA
i’d definitely take another walk around there again, i’d never felt so soothed in my life (especially now during HO period where everything is so stressful) and i think my zine will follow along the lines of the serenity in sembawang or something because it was really a lovely (i feel like a grandma using this word) experience. truly. 10/10 would recommend.
singapore diary (research)
ni hao
originally i was going to do my project on the facades of singapore, comparing in terms of well maintained areas vs the “ghettoes” which corresponded with the socioeconomic status of the inhabitants of each area.
expectations of a ghetto [chicago]: (source)
reality of a ghetto in Singapore:
but since singapore is very meticulous with their upkeep, the ghetto areas didn’t look significantly ghetto, just a bit more drab but nonetheless didn’t look particularly run-down. so i had to scrap that plan.
next up i tried places that had gone to ruin that once held significance vs places that now are popular and lots of funding is funnelled into these areas. but again, sg being sg have mostly destroyed these places since land is limited and what not. i didn’t have too many places that i could find, aside from like maybe bras basah. Google wasn’t too helpful. as much as i searched, there wasn’t much besides temples and shophouses (but the shophouses housed new shops not original shops from way back when) but it wasn’t enough for my photobook so i moved on to idea 3.
thirdly i thought of focusing on people, because i prefer to make work centred around the folks of the area. i wanted to show the things behind the facade e.g in MBS, i’d compare the tourists/hotel-stayers vs the cleaner aunties/uncles to show the divide in the 2 social strata. which was a bit hard to do because my point wasn’t coming out so clearly through the photos without a wall of text to describe it (which defeats the purpose of a photobook) so nope REJECTED.
F I N A L L Y
I decided to do my idea on society’s perceptions of people changing based on how they use a space. it was inally an idea that married the idea of using spaces and people.
I wanted to follow this “spot the difference” method by juxtaposing the two images across from each other so that the viewer will intuitively start wondering if the 2 photos are the same or if there are differences (which there are).
On the right side, is the “right” way of using a space. As explained in the summary in the project post, it’s society’s expectation of how a person should use the space. On the left is how a person also can use a space without breaking any of the rules and yet they’re judged for it. Spaces are meant to be occupied and used within reason, yet there are preconceived notions on how to “correctly” use it, and if you were to use it wrongly, you’re some sort of a delinquent.
It’s supposed to show the irony of our judgement because they are the exact same person in the exact same setting, and the only variable is what they are doing – and yet one action detracts from their character while the other doesn’t, even though they are the same exact person and nothing has changed + they aren’t doing anything wrong or illegal.
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the final project’s over here
4D SEM 2 PROJECT 01: A waste of space?
p.s im having technical errors with my phone so the process post will come in a day or two
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“A waste of space?” is a project that comments on society’s wavering judgement of people based on how they use free spaces. When there are no restrictions that determine what can and cannot be done in a space, those who occupy it are free to use it as they please while maintaining legality. Be it reading a book or taking a smoke break, neither of which break the rules, somehow one comes with a positive connotation to a person’s character while the other, negative.
This photobook parallels the “right” and the “wrong” uses of public space, naturally with the “right” use being on the right side (hhehehehehe). The orientation of the pictures vary to get the reader to be more careful in their observation (so they’ll ask themselves “wait why is this rotated”). That’s why i made this a5, so that it’ll be easy to rotate. I used the same person for all the photos to show that aside from how they use a space, they are still the same person, good or bad.
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Through this I hope to raise the awareness of the fact that there are people who judge others like this, and also that nothing someone does in such spaces that should detract from their character.
que sera, sera
step 1: ideation
after thinking through possible jobs to do, i decided on the first 4 (that i later changed).
then i decided to go with drug dealer, crime scene detective, microbiologist and cleaner.
i got the inspiration from those after doing some searching online:
these were what i printed in my journal. i really identify with henn kim’s art style because it’s similar to the way i draw (simple lines, solid colours) which is also the style i used for my sem 1 FD final project. so i really wanted to do this style for at least one of the jobs.
i personally really enjoyed drawing in this style and i drew this on AI with a bamboo pad but used AI to edit a little bit (joining the lines, etc). i feel like the simplicity wouldn’t detract from the name, also why i zoomed in the image more to make sure my namebroom took at least 1/3 of the image.
i also wanted to do at least one real-life kind of typography, so i researched on prints and materials to use.
i got powdered sugar, american money (because sg money looks like toy money), a blade (which is vintage so i had to handle w care), a syringe with a needle, and just used the blade to arrange the sugar into my name.
^ the illustrating process. i tried to mimic actual bacteria but they didn’t look identifiably bacteria-ish. so i had to resort to using cartoon-ish bacteria instead. illustrator couldn’t handle the large amount of illustrations (and probably 6 artboards) i had to keep letting it crash and force quit/restart AI.
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one thing i learned from this process was that i really liked drawing. it was really theraputic to do and even though it wasn’t well received like i thought it would be, i really like the way it turned out (but i guess i should have stuck to photography). i also realised the potential of AI and managed to forage through the multitude of tools on it that i now know exists and can use in the future. i also really enjoyed making the drug dealer one because it was cool setting up a flatlay with props and it felt like setting up a stage for a play. all in all, it was a good experience that i can use to help in future projects.
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i cant add my drug dealer one because photoshop doesn’t let me resize the file (“no editing of banknotes” i.e. the american money) and the file is too big for oss.
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BONUS: portrait of phoebe
beautiful.