He starts walking before sunrise. A gentle breeze is picking up, as
the first rays of the sun flicker across the leaves. He has all the
time in the world. There is no time at all.
the first rays of the sun flicker across the leaves. He has all the
time in the world. There is no time at all.
He visits all the familiar places – the ones that are still left – his
daily duty for many years. He checks if everything is in order,
whether someone has been around or anything has changed since the day
before. He feeds the dogs and the old boar, clears some branches that
came down during the storm at night. At midday he sits down to eat and
rest, listening to a bird’s wistful cry. The scrub is crackling in the
heat. The few people he sees do not notice him.
daily duty for many years. He checks if everything is in order,
whether someone has been around or anything has changed since the day
before. He feeds the dogs and the old boar, clears some branches that
came down during the storm at night. At midday he sits down to eat and
rest, listening to a bird’s wistful cry. The scrub is crackling in the
heat. The few people he sees do not notice him.
Then he starts walking again.
Eventually, after a long day, the light turns amber and red, and winds
back over concrete and grass like a tired, well-fed snake.
back over concrete and grass like a tired, well-fed snake.
He follows at a safe distance.
"There Is a Garden" is a series photographed in Singapore between 2011 and 2015.
The work turns the focus away from the omnipresent, picture-perfect urban and horticultural landscape of Singapore as a self-proclaimed “City in a Garden”, and instead delves into the wistful and quiet niches that are hardly noticed by the general public or official presentations. It shows accidental and unregulated “gardens” that whisper the melancholic poetry of oblivion in a country driven by rigorous progress.
The books: www.platform.sg/plus50
