curated by Tay Kay Chin

City Room @ Basheer
Block 231 Bain Street #04-19 Bras Basah Complex
Singapore 180231
Mon-Sun, 11am - 8pm;
Free admission

No longer content with just being hobbyist photographers, more and more Singaporean photographers are turning their lenses on topics seldom touched on in the past. From the intimate studies of families to keen observations of changing social norms, photographers are, knowingly and unknowingly, helping to record a slice of our history. But their focus does not end here.

Increasingly, local photographers have also found compelling topics abroad which require them to spend an extended period of time away from home. While Terence Tay¹s documentary images of the underclass in Calcutta reminds us that photography can be used to effect social changes and raise awareness, Julia Nah¹s The Couple is a good example of photographers using the medium to address our concerns and fear.

Another exhibitor, Joe Nair, turns a daily train journey into a study of his fellow commuters, who all seem to be lost in their own world. In Finding George, Teo Chee Sern combines traditional street photography techniques and the palettes of modern cinema successfully to freeze slices of a city trying not to be a metropolis. For Soyun Lee, a Korean native, being on the move all her life gives photography an additional responsibility of preserving her memories of places and people.

These photographers may not make a living out of photography but that is not necessarily a disadvantage. What drives this new breed of image-makers seems to be one common thing the need for their voices to be heard. Most of them do not enjoy the limelight of the better-marketed commercial photographers, but there is no question that they are writing a new chapter in Singapore's photography.