Community Worship – A Visual History of CHIJMES
March 2021
Mixed media on newsprint
30 x 72 cm
Community Worship is a visual history of the evolution of CHIJMES from a place of education and charity into a commercial property. Today, as much of the history of CHIJMES is lost to those that enter into it to immerse themselves in its bustling atmosphere, this work aims to highlight the rich and complex history of one of Singapore’s oldest buildings. While the space – which is self-contained within one city block in the downtown core region of Singapore – has undergone tremendous changes over almost two centuries, what has remained constant is its purpose in serving the people of Singapore. While the ways in which this is accomplished has changed as CHIJMES initially functioned as a convent that would take in and educate underprivileged children, and now, reflecting the evolution in the demographics of Singapore, acts as a modern, multicultural lifestyle and wedding venue, it has always played a role in enriching the community around it. The format of a scroll which rolls outwards from the middle in two directions and thus can be read from the 1840s to the present or the other way around, is intended to reflect the consistency of this mission. The collage on the scroll serves to foreground history through the use of archival images – from sources such as the National Archives of Singapore, the Roots Collections by the National Heritage Board, CHIJMES’s official documentation of their history, and photographs I captured myself – as well as symbolic patterns, prints, and text.
Project Instructions
For the studio component of this project, the task was to create an experimental publication (any size, no shorter than four “pages”) that captures the emotion and energy of a psychogeographic walk, as well as encapsulates our research about the people and / or places we observed. Our publication could be made of any material and we were allowed to incorporate any media we liked into its pages.
Psychogeographic Walk
The first step of the process in working on this project was to go on a psychogeographic walk, which is an anti-capitalist strategy first developed by Guy Debord and then taken up by the Situationist International. The goal of the walk was to experience our urban environment in a way that refuses the often hidden protocols of politics, urban planning, capitalism, etc. Our precise itinerary could not be known in advance – the walk should have principally embraced contingency without being random or aimless. In doing so, we were required to set a principle which would guide our journey. I chose to walk towards religious institutions within the downtown core region of Singapore. Below is a link to my Seminar writing assignment as well as a Mural link with the media I collected on my walk.
Bridge Project 2 – Psychogeographic Walk
Mural – Psychogeographic Walk Media
Process
Research and Ideation
After my walk, I decided to use CHIJMES – A refurbished church located along Victoria Street in the downtown core region – as inspiration for my project. Consequently, I did some research into the history of the place and how it evolved from a convent and charity to a commercial complex:
After working on this research, I did some brainstorming to come up with ideas for how I could present my work in the form of a publication:
From this process, I decided to focus on communicating the transformation of CHIJMES from a place of education and charity to a commercial complex, and I chose the format of a scroll to do so.
Making
The very first step in my process was to divide the history of CHIJMES into four phases and create a detailed outline. Below is a link to a .pdf of the same.
Below are some images of my process as I put together my final work:
Collecting images from digitised national archives and planning physical layout in Illustrator.
I wanted to use newsprint to form the body of my scroll, however since it is a very thin, fragile type of paper, I used liquid latex to glue two sheets together to form a sturdier base on which to work.
I used wooden dowels to form the ends on which the scroll would be rolled.
I printed and cut out all of my images and then placed them on my scroll to recreate the layout I had planned on Illustrator.
I used lino to create this stamp inspired by the peephole on the Gate of Hope at CHIJMES.
Finally, I began to stick all of my images and add other elements such as writing, different types of paper, and patterns with pen, crayon, and coloured pencils.
Final Work
Community Worship – A Visual History of CHIJMES
March 2021
Mixed media on newsprint
30 x 72 cm
*Click on the image to view an enlarged version
Community Worship is a visual history of the evolution of CHIJMES from a place of education and charity into a commercial property. Today, as much of the history of CHIJMES is lost to those that enter into it to immerse themselves in its bustling atmosphere, this work aims to highlight the rich and complex history of one of Singapore’s oldest buildings. While the space – which is self-contained within one city block in the downtown core region of Singapore – has undergone tremendous changes over almost two centuries, what has remained constant is its purpose in serving the people of Singapore. While the ways in which this is accomplished has changed as CHIJMES initially functioned as a convent that would take in and educate underprivileged children, and now, reflecting the evolution in the demographics of Singapore, acts as a modern, multicultural lifestyle and wedding venue, it has always played a role in enriching the community around it. The format of a scroll which rolls outwards from the middle in two directions and thus can be read from the 1840s to the present or the other way around, is intended to reflect the consistency of this mission. The collage on the scroll serves to foreground history through the use of archival images – from sources such as the National Archives of Singapore, the Roots Collections by the National Heritage Board, CHIJMES’s official documentation of their history, and photographs I captured myself – as well as symbolic patterns, prints, and text.
Details
Reflection
Work from:
Integrative Studio 2 with Professor Amy Finkel
