Tay Zhiyong // Lesson Idea

Name of Artist: Tay Zhiyong

School: Coral Secondary School

History of Singapore – Interpreting and re-interpreting scenes an old photograph

How does our past influence the future?

instruction

Students will: 

• Bring an old photograph from home; visit the National Archives of Singapore website, download and print a photo of their choice in the past. 
• Describe the chosen photograph, and make comparisons to present day. Discuss what the future might be for the place, objects or people.  
• React and respond to the image by doing one of the following:
  • Substitute something or someone in the old photo from something or someone from the present.
  • Create a graphic artwork from the old photograph to create a ‘stencil’ or wall mural, in the style of Banksy. Digitally superimpose that image over a digital photograph. 
• Students will write down their reasons for the modifications that they had made and also the reasons they had left parts of the original photo intact.
• A critique session is held at the end of the session for the students to critique their peers’ work and also for the students to present their work to the rest of the class.

Materials

• Old photographs
• Computer, scanner and digital manipulation software