2015, Photography, 110cm x 30cm
By WOON SHER LIN SHERALYN, Orchid Park Secondary School
This work examines Singaporeans’ love affair and assumptions with real estate. The artist visited vacant properties where these holes and stains, hidden behind doors and rugs, appealed to her aesthetic senses. This was in contrast to the anxiety of the property agent who wanted to cover these flaws. The dismay and current downturn in the property market has left many apartments forlorn and unsold. Walls that used to protect have become rejected objects, becoming voids. Homes that helped our nation establish families and thrive are becoming energy-sapping, financial burdens. Properties vacated are no longer an object of desire but a void space that cannot be ignored.
This work reminds us of how we try to rub out the stains and refurbish the space, yet the void cannot be filled. The stains become ghostly reminders that continually haunt those who have fallen prey to the ‘exuberance of the market’.
aedge 