Singapore architecture is inspiring a range of visual art forms, from film to reportage illustration. Read more at straitstimes.com.
SINGAPORE – Of late, Singapore landmarks have been sparking a creative renaissance among artists and inspiring a range of visual art forms from cinematography to reportage sketching.
“I’m researching and developing a script for a longer documentary on the Jalan Besar area, which will also look at how migrant workers find sanctuary there,” he says. “I felt that was something I wanted to do in a country where change is the only constant,” says Mr Soh, who obtained a degree in sociology from the National University of Singapore in 2001 while also working as a contract photographer for The Straits Times.
Founded in Singapore in 2009, it has grown over the years and its groups today number between 50 and 80 sketchers at monthly meetings. Besides writing and contributing to several architectural monographs in recent years, such as Before It All Goes: Architecture From Singapore’s Early Independence Years , his works have also crossed over into the realm of art.
“The built environment in Singapore changes at an alarming rate,” says Mr Soh, who is married to author and educator Melanie Lee, 44. The couple have an 11-year-old son. The photobook, which he co-authored with urban planner Samantha Chia, gives a glimpse into the apartment interiors in Golden Mile Complex and other private housing estates built here from the 1970s to 1980s.
Britain-born Finbarr Fallon says his personal photographic work is about “shining a light” on overlooked aspects of Singapore's built environment. PHOTO: FINBARR FALLON He also received a Silver nomination from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2016 for his thesis work titled Subterranean Singapore 2065, a speculative filmic project which proposes a deep-level masterplan for underground dwelling.
“I have had a lifelong fascination with architecture – how buildings are designed and our relationships with them. However, I am equally interested in uncovering the in-between, less intentional spaces within the cityscape that emerge because, or in spite of the design process, and how people use these.
The 10-minute documentary, which was funded by Mr Loh and took about five months to finish in 2022, was also shown at Singapore Art Week that year. He is working on a video on Jalan Besar that looks at the enclave as an inclusive urban space where migrant workers can mingle with locals and travellers, as well as where people on the fringes of society can find common ground.), a home-grown content creation studio which focuses on stories rooted in history, but is now working on his own short-form documentary on the precinct.
“I hope my films allow people to look at architecture as being similar to onions,” he says with a laugh. “When unravelled, architecture has the ability to make one shed tears. And when it is caramelised with the element of time, it can leave an extra sweet taste in one’s memory.
One of his art pieces, titled In Our Time, was commissioned by the Singapore Art Museum for the Imaginarium: Into The Space Of Time exhibition in 2018. It is currently part of the permanent exhibition at the URA Centre. For example, architecture – which most of his work is based on– is more relatable to the man in the street via the medium of illustration, which Mr Lee presents through an emphasis on the day-to-day lives of people.
An illustration of Keong Saik Road by Mr Lee Xin Li, also known online as Pok Pok & Away. PHOTO: LEE XIN LI “Often, they will describe it with such detail and vividness that I feel I was there too,” he adds. ”When people share these experiences and moments, it makes me feel that the illustration has a greater purpose.”Landscape photographer Peter Zaman used the time that he had during the Covid-19 pandemic to keep himself creatively challenged, rather than give in to the gloom and doom.
The colloquial term “black and white” is often used to describe colonial-era bungalows in British Malaya, which included Singapore, built from the early 1900s to the late 1930s. That provided the inspiration for the title of his book: The Black & White Project – Unseen Landscapes Of Singapore. “To compensate for the harsh light, I pivoted to shooting in black and white. Before shooting, I asked myself why I loved walking past these old colonial bungalows, and the answer was that the beauty of the houses lay not only in their distinctive architecture, but also in their juxtaposition with the landscape,” he says.
The USKSG sketchers, who are mainly self-taught artists, were armed with pencils, inks and watercolours. They wanted to capture the architecture of the 50-year-old sports complex as well as its Olympic-size swimming pools, where the Southeast Asia Peninsular Games were held in 1973. The local affiliate, which was founded by Madam Tia Boon Sim in 2009, has about 50 to 80 people of all ages attending the monthly sketchwalks. The group also meets ad hoc in small groups once a week.
Ms Ng – who is 54 and works at a local bank as an information technology and business analyst – joined the group in 2019. She meets fellow members several times a month for between two and three hours a session. They sketch a wide range of subjects, including architecture, local cuisines and people on-site.“Each sketching session is precious ‘me-time’, when I don’t think about office work or household chores,” says Ms Ng, who also has two sons aged 15 and 25.
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