Dialects are considered an essential part of what identifies us as Singaporeans. Yet, people of my generation seem to be slowly losing connection with this dying art. Apart from the inability to communicate with the older generation, it is also a problem when our sense of identity gets eroded. This project serves to bring back the appreciation for dialects amongst the younger generation so that we can own a shared sense of identity and experience as Singaporeans. The objectives of the project involve exposing the younger generation to the beauty of dialects via a more active approach whereby content in dialects will be delivered on the online platforms they frequent before engaging them in the actual learning process, unlike existing works which are more passive in nature. The main deliverables will be motion graphics in and about dialects on online platforms to raise awareness.
My grandfather and I are both huge fans of P.Ramlee films. When I was little, my family used to watch the films together with my grandfather in the living room of his apartment. Very often he would document and review the films creating a collection of books titled Buku Sinaran. Weaving in his family narratives into the film reviews, the result is a poetic family archive that I used as the foundation of this project. Stories from Atuk is a re-enactment of this experiential journey, re-archiving into a series of publications consisting of illustrations, collage and family recollections.
We Singaporeans love our local fare and I am no exception. Food is almost synonymous with life and has always been an important part – not only of my personal – heritage. My great-grandparents operated a kedai kopi in a small kampong in Malaysia, and my grandparents sold the best Hainanese chicken rice at Adam Road up till the 1990s.
Jia (eat in Hainanese and Home in Mandarin) is an installation in an attempt to reconnect with a part of my family history I never really knew – before it disappears, through the food that I grew up eating.
