Through a Different Lens



Me and Mr Brown and Mr Miyagi (yes, us Tomorrow editors sometimes are just one small clique) once talked about the idea of capturing the stories of migrant workers in Singapore, recording interviews with Filipino maids and Bangladeshi workers and so on as a podcast. Young men, young women, each with their lives and dreams and flaws and desires... what must they think of this city?

Someday, that might materialise. But Karen over at Snog Blog highlights an impressive project: InsideOut, in which foreign workers in Singapore take a camera to record their lives. There's a whole exhibition of these photos going on at Objectifs (full disclosure: I know one of the people who set up Objectifs, as well as a few of the photographers who lecture there).

When I was working and living in the City Hall area, I would head to Peninsula Plaza, to the top floor with the small cafes where the Myanmar workers hang out - with menus completely in Burmese, you point randomly and take your chances. (It's also pretty cheap to buy those phone cards for dialling overseas there.) It was really quite a different world. There were, for one, these SingTel ads that you'd probably not see anywhere else:



Mmm, all this talk of Burmese food has made me think of butter rice.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Peninsula Plaza, that's one my favorite places in Singapore. I like the Burmese tea, very much like the Indian tea and the tamarind drink.
Daryl said…
Haven't had the Burmese tea - not much of a tea drinker, I admit - what's it like?
BorisEarTh said…
Sounds like a great project. Sadly, I think I'm going to miss the Objectifs exhibition. But if you'd like someone to help take pics just yell! Cheers Jon

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