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.
In September, landscape photographer Peter Zaman released a monograph entirely in black and white about Singapore’s colonial-era black-and-white bungalows.
Titled The Black & White Project – Unseen Landscapes Of Singapore, the glossy coffee-table tome moves away from showing the interiors of these houses, and instead focuses on the landscapes and surrounding heritage trees.
Another project is a mini-film about the appeal of the Jalan Besar area in the 1960s. The tautly edited 90-second video is shot by architectural photographer and film-maker Benny Loh, who in 2022 released a mini-documentary on the quirky tenants of Peninsula Shopping Centre.
“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.
Besides print and film, there are also urban illustrations by independent artists, such as illustrator Lee Xin Li, who release their works online; and urban sketching groups such as Urban Sketchers SG (USKSG), a local affiliate of a global community that engages in reportage sketching, or sketching on-location.
Mr Darren Soh is excited by this burst of creativity and interest in Singapore’s urban spaces. He started out about 20 years ago as a full-time independent photographer with a special interest in architectural and landscape photography.
“Two decades back, there were only a handful of specialised photographers dedicated solely to architecture, and even fewer who focused extensively on vernacular spaces such as Housing Board flats.
“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.
“With more individuals and groups choosing to focus on architecture as their subject, hopefully this also means that the man on the street will come to appreciate our built environment more than before,” he adds.
USKSG practises “plein air art” – French for “sketching in the open air” – where people organise themselves into groups outdoors to capture the spirit and essence of a part of the landscape.
