In this series of creative digital photocollages, I tried to visually represent
the dilemma that Southeast Asia currently faces. My research interest grew
when a territorial dispute over the South China Sea, one of the busiest
waterways in the world, garnered the attention of world mass media over
the past years. I was drawn especially by the coverage and representation
of this geographic region because my own native country—Singapore—is
situated here.
Recent excavations of shipwrecks in this region and navigation histories
inspired additional content. During the first millennium, traders traveled
both eastward and westward along the marine terrain dubbed the Ceramics
Route to transport exquisite products from Asia to Europe and vice versa.
The irregular outlines of my new works mimic fragments of china from
various dynasties (Tang, Song, and Ming) glazed with their characteristic
colors. A wide array of vessels and household utensils with specific
functions and distinctive Chinese names were portrayed.
Additional content was based on the myths and legends of Southeast Asia.
Gateways of opportunities open when the protagonist encounters crisis or
comes face to face with adversaries. The characters for “danger 危” and
“opportunity 機” when used together, denote “crisis 危機” in the Chinese
language. Such stories will always be metaphorically transformed in my
digital photocollages just as the torrential rains accompanied by the trade
winds were visually transformed into scanning barcodes on commercial
products.