Conjugation : SMRT (2018)

Hot-melt Adhesive (HMA)
1150mm x 800mm x 55mm

Bringing the concept of Conjugation : Shanghai to the Singapore context held different meaning for me. As I grew up in Singapore using the MRT as a means of transport, I focused more on the individual journey. Most of the time, train carriages are a space that simply slices through our daily consciousness. You enter at one point, and you get off at another. We rarely view the MRT in different light.

Using satellite images from Google, I traced the daily commute over and over again with a hot glue gun, mimicking in some ways 3D printing techniques but in the most manual way – creating a sculpture on canvas. By stacking the layers and layers on top of each other, I repeat the ‘journey’ and in the end, the effect resembles that of topography, or a map relief. Similar to Conjugation : Shanghai, this exemplified the ripple effect of commute, representing the effect a metro line has on the surrounding area. 

The daily commute on the MRT can be repetitive and we hardly see anything else besides the beginning and the end of the journey. However, if only we relook at the everyday, we can find beauty in the seemingly ordinary and repetitive.

Solo exhibition : SPRMRKT (Cluny Court), 5th July – 30th Sept 2018.
Photo credit : SPRMRKT and Anmari.