‘ As this wave from memories flows in, the city soaks up like a sponge and expands.
The city however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written
in the corners of the streets, the gratings of the windows, the banisters of the steps,
the antennae of the lightning rods, the poles of the flags, every segment marked in turn
with scratches, indentations, scrolls.’ - Italo Calvino
Armenian Church, Hill Street (oldest church in Singapore)
Chinatown
“Happy Birthday Singapore!” : Girl enjoying ramen at NDP 2009
Chinese Shrine, Toa Payoh
The monotony of the HDBs is broken by a small tree shrine set under an old banyan tree.
Legend has it that when the land was being cleared to make way for the new town, an
engineer who attempted to remove the tree, was run over by his own vehicle. (?!)
Anyway, since then, the tree is believed to be spiritual.
Every city carries an image (official and unofficial). City branding is not a new concept, but rather one that has existed since the existence of cities themselves. We all have our share of perceptions and personal opinions on cities or countries around the world. Tourism, media, government policies and hearsay, are just a few factors that contribute to our judgements. Curious to find out what people thought about Singapore, I sent out mails to friends and relatives, across the globe, asking for keywords that they might associate with the city. As expected, the list was not complete without the words “police state”, “shopping” and “cleanliness”.
Singapore at first glance ?
Is it fair to tag the city with such strong cliches and stereotyping? What lies beneath the perfect exterior? What constitutes the soul of the city? What drives its people?
Sketchbook in hand, I decided to discover for myself.
its going great
m proud of you.
Posted by prasun | April 8, 2010, 05:25adiii, this is brilliant stuff. so much talent. very impressed. im going to stalk you further. also, im going to make sure the visitor count doubles since uve been so discreet about this!! xoxox
Posted by tara | April 8, 2010, 11:18Aditi you are so talented and i wish you all the best
Posted by Varun | May 8, 2010, 03:36I lived in Singapore for 4 crazy weeks and I don’t think I got to know the city very well at all; but this is completely true – ‘The city however, does not tell its past…’
And the sketches are amazingly good, all of them..
Posted by Ankit | May 29, 2010, 17:30Hey Aditi!
I was forwarded this link by a friend, and was truly astonished by what I saw! Your artwork is incredible! Not only your obvious sketching talents, but the message you pencil in behind each piece too. Awesome! Hope you keep it up and I’ll check back on the blog more often!
Posted by Tim | May 29, 2010, 17:52Nice work done, specially the video (Singapore: Crossroads of the east) gives an new look of the viewpoint of Singapore. Keep up the good work , waiting for more from you.☺☺
Posted by Ashish Mechu | May 24, 2011, 22:02