Dekat di Mata, Jauh di Hati

The English translation is Close to the Eyes but Far from the Heart. The artwork shows a spherical bowl-shaped head containing a stack of different icons and cultures.

My piece addresses gentrification and the lost of identity. The almost desperate attempt to hold on and cling to something innately communal and human like culture and relegating its existence and identity to only its physical manifestations. Nostalgia is an opioid for the masses. It romanticises a past without truly understanding the consequences and actions that brought us to where we are today.

This artwork takes reference from the heritage and spirit of Joo Chiat and Katong. During his walkabout around the area, the artist could not help but feel overwhelmed by the vast changes to the space. Gone were the traditional businesses that echoed a bygone era of colonial Singapore, replaced by hip cafes and trendy businesses as part of ever-evolving redevelopment efforts.

Heritage persists only vestigially, embodied by the shophouses in the area, and reminders of what came before can only be glimpsed as tidbits of information on National Heritage Board plaques. The work is not a critique of change, but an acceptance of the inevitable. The character of Joo Chiat is constituted by the colours of the row of colourful Peranakan shop houses in the area, with mere memories shoring up of the remnants of heritage and culture that created the identity of the district.