ShanghART Gallery 香格纳画廊
中文

Cat. 2, Changi, Singapore, Possibly 1970s
ROBERT ZHAO RENHUI 赵仁辉
2011
Archival pigment print mounted on aluminium, framed
100(H)*150cm
Edition of 3 + 1AP
ZRH_7425

In the 1960s, Singapore gorged the soil from its tiny hills and ridges and used it to reclaim land. The island is virtually flat today, forcing the government to buy sand from Malaysia and Indonesia to continue its reclamation
efforts. In the early stages of a land reclamation project, when the imported sand was sitting idle for some time, huge desert-like landscapes began to dominate the eastern and western coasts of Singapore. When these deserts started appearing in the 1960s, they took the place of the beaches that the locals used to frequent. To make do with what they have, Singaporeans would flock into these reclaimed spaces on the weekends to walk towards the new shoreline, in hope of reaching the beach that they once knew.

Detail pictures: