”Unearthed” – Singapore Artists’ View on our Relationship with Mother Earth

Exhibition: 21 Mar – 06 Jul 2014
Singapore Art Museum
71 Bras Basah Road, Singapore
and 8Q, 8 Queen Street, Singapore

How does Singapore, a so-called Garden City, celebrates the Environment Day (5 June)? I’m curious and surprised by the series of artworks under “Unearthed” – selected from SAM (Singapore Art Museum) permanent collection, private collections as well as artists’ collections.

Twardzil Ching Chor Leng unearths a plot of land on the front lawn of SAM and brings the excavated earth into the museum. This installation triggers my thoughts about land (real estate) in development progress of Singapore and another famous poem in Vietnam “Land keeps our great memories and becomes part of our heart”.

And I’m a bit shocked to see the “Landscaped Portraits – A beautiful place nearby” by Donna Ong, as if I was snorkelling in to see the beautiful corals in industrial area and the concept of “constructed nature” is still very debatable, which we might recall in many new apartments buildings in Hanoi such as in Royal City, Times City, etc.

Ann Song Nian brought us to a different view of nature with elegiac photographs “And Now, Like Sleeping Flowers” – extremely beautiful landscapes. However, the white paper resembles “spirit money”, strewn in front of the hearse during Chinese funeral processions to pave the way for the departed. I was wondering myself: Are they real? Are we in heaven? Or all these beautiful landscape has been a history?

Can you guess what these sculptures are made from/ of?

The miniature sculptures of animal skeletons created by Ezzam Rahman from his dead skin (Ouch!). He peeled and scraped from callouses and the soles of his feet – the part of bodies which needs to harden itself to protect against the pressure and impact of pounding against surfaces whilst bearing our entire weight. These fragile fossils, like the dead skin, speak of the hardness of life, and ask us what we choose to cast off or value, and why?

Check out other interesting works below:

For your information, the admission to SAM is free every Friday, 6-9pm.

Reported by Hue Tran (Hanoi Grapevine team) from Singapore.