ENVISION – Gladys

Here’s the Google Drive Link!: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KB0eKtR4M9kZ7SvTJB5r5Z5ui5LPi3wN/view?usp=sharing

01 | Categories of Sounds and Explanation

All of the sounds presented in my work are asynchronous sounds as the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) announcements, noises from the train moving and doors closing, people chatting in their Singaporean accents, Korea Train eXpress (KTX) announcements and the final whoosh reverb sound effect does not match what is visible in my work.

This is to bring the imagination that I have in mind, to others listening to this cacophony.

Non-diegetic sounds present in my cacophony are the MRT announcements, KTX announcements as well as the whoosh reverb sound effect. The train announcements are repeated soundtracks which are produced externally, and the whoosh reverb sound is a non-realistic sound effect.

On the other hand, the people chatting in a Singaporean accent, ambient sounds and train sounds such as doors closing and moving are diegetic sounds as these are actual sounds produced.

All in all, these sounds come together to create a dérive, immersing myself in the travel from Singapore to Korea by train.

3 Parts of Sound

The Attack (00:00-00:15)

Announcements from the MRT
People chatting away
Train moving and doors closing

The Sustain (00:15 – 00:27)

Reverb of KTX announcements
People chatting away in their Singaporean accent
Noises of train moving

The Decay (00:27-00:30)

Whoosh reverb sound effect, indicating the end of the audio as I wake up from this imagination.

02 | Semiotics and Intentions

Signifier – Illustrations of popular places like Lotte World and Namsan Tower, food like Kimbap, as well as characters like BT21 and Kakao Friends from Korea

Signified – As I have never travelled overseas before, Korea is one of the first countries I would like to visit. I am one who is highly influenced by the culture through K-pop, K-dramas and more, thus, it is my dream to go there some day.

The thought of, “What if there was an easier mode of transportation to Korea?” appeared in my mind. However, as it is currently only an imagination, it is illustrated as I have only seen Korea from online sources, and it is interacting with what I see in my daily life to suggest that the elements of Singapore and Korea are merging. Hence, it is 2-dimensional as well, suggesting that this desire is not fulfilled yet. These illustrations also signify what I view Korea as, and what I look forward to visiting and observing upon the arrival to Korea.

We also see how the soup illustration spills over to the next, showing how my desire overflows, but does not go out of the rectangular frame as this idea is not feasible, hence implying the boundaries.

Signifier – Images of my hands and eyes

Signified – Grabbing onto the illustration, the hands are placed to symbolize holding the idea and desire together. As we can see, the image of the illustration is split into half, with the outline of my eyes in the center to emphasize the envision that I have, which is to travel to Korea from Singapore by train.

The eyes are blurred, implying that this is just my own visualization as this idea is unclear, and may never come true, but I still hope for it to happen.

Intention behind chosen visuals, images and text:

Visuals & Image – My intended message of this work is to portray my desire to travel to Korea by train for convenience, hence, representational subjects like myself in the image, illustrations relating to Korea, and the everyday, which are the HDB flats, are seen.

The medium used is mixed media, incorporating digital illustrations and images together through a collage. With the use of Closure, we see how the two illustrations in the middle, though split into two, are seen as a whole. The context, which is travelling to Korea, and place, which is my imagination, are displayed, with the illustrations interacting with the image, expressing the surrealism. The content are physical and intellectual as I want the viewers to feel as though they are walking through the image, as it just reflects my everyday life, but also, the Korea elements are there, but not existing in the actual world. Thus, they would experience how it is like to be there. Intellectual content is shown as this requires certain thought process, to understand that this is my imagination.

In contrast with the grey, monotonous background, the colourful and bright illustrated piece stands out, creating a juxtaposition between the dullness of what I deemed as my current life and the vibrancy of the images, which is my fantasy.

Text – The glitch text from the Hangul, Korean written alphabetical script of the word “Seoul”, to the common language in Singapore, which is English, spells out, “Singapore”, are connecting through these distorted lines.

The Hangul writing of Seoul is placed above as on the map, Korea is located above Singapore. Hence, I tried linking the text like paths meeting one another.

Sound in relation to the meaning of the work – The announcement from our MRT is being used in my work to be relatable in a way as majority of us have taken it, and some of us have taken this public transportation daily. Thus, this sound is used to create a familiar environment in our imagination.

When I am thinking about the idea of having a railway linking from Singapore to Korea for convenience and easy access, the announcement changes from the typical one we hear in Singapore MRT to the reverb of the KTX announcement. Despite the change, we still hear Singaporeans chatting away in the background, which shows that I’m not actually in Korea, but in Singapore as this is just a dream.

Hence, as the idea of connecting railways might not be possible in reality, we hear the reverb at the end, signifying that I, snap back into reality.

03 | Artist References

“The Road Ahead” by Jun Xiang and Jerrold

My first artist reference is “The Road Ahead”, the National Day Parade Music Video for 2021, by the co-directors, Jun Xiang and Jerrold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II_5jBaYmGQ

In the music video, we could see how the illustrations interact with the real life videos, which engages the audience as it is dynamic and tells us stories about Singapore. For instance, the first image where the two are eating popular food like chilli crab and laksa, introducing the delicacies Singapore provides. We could also see how these illustrations do not have colour, which creates a contrast with the common sight of Singapore.

Hence, it is also reflected in my image where I try to work with illustrations on my real life image.

@kj_collage on Instagram [First Image, “The traveler”, Second Image, “Focused”]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CiQiJPCqYQs/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTqBjCQqP9G/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

This artist creates collages from cut outs, and the way he positions those cut outs are interesting in the way we could see how there is an underlying message. For instance, in the second image, we could see that the eyes of a person are covered with an image of a cheetah, and naming the piece, “Focused”, which could imply that the person in the image is sharp, sly or maybe active. Hence, this artist inspired me to creatively arrange my elements.