Wednesday, October 15, 2008
*~A.A~*
AA - Attract Attention? Trying to bootlick? How about Art Appreciation and trying to keep a copy of the past and present of Singapore for the future?
Heartlands - Home and Nation in the art of Ong Kim Seng.
This book is a collaboration of my supervisor KBS and a renowned local artist who won numerous international awards. Was cordially invited to this book launch by KBS to celebrate the launch of this compilation of OKS's paintings of the evolution of housing in Singapore.
From attap houses to HDB (housing development board), OKS have witnessed the change in public housing in Singapore. Let me quote a paragraph of the introduction that touched me:
'I live and breathe, sense and feel, in an estate like so many other Singaporeans. I have had the chance to observe and live through the birth and development of housing estates in Singapore to date. I witnessed the dawn of the HDB, as I was living in a village of attap houses before my family was resettled to a one-room flat in Jalan Bukit Merah (formerly the area called Anson). I personally experienced landmark events including the Great Bukit Ho Swee Fire and the springing up of the first estate in Queenstown. There are a myriad of facets about life in HDB estates that can be discovered, and that deserve to be preserved for posterity.'
Having lived through the period of housing estate evolution, OKS' talented hands tell stories that even a storyteller couldn't describe. A picture speaks a thousand words. In this compilation, there are more than 50 paintings of different housing estates in Singapore - past and present. Who knows what will houses be like after another 30 years?? But one thing for sure is that it will never be the same again.
This book narrates a part of history that is so close to our hearts. In fact, I am blogging in one of the many units in this HDB block. One of the many in Singapore. 30 years ago, our grandparents don't even have a proper roof that don't leak during rainy days. Now, we not only have a proper shelter over our head, we also have proper sewage system, water system etc.
Such development, is it not something that we have to keep and remind the future generations of how much the country have changed??
