Singapore is a tabula rasa — constantly redeveloping — so much so that the crane, a powerful symbol of construction has become a ubiquitous sight in this island. The desire for a horizontally challenged island to go higher and higher is aided by these graceful but mammoth machines that come and go as quietly like the birds. Here is my tribute to them.
A series of notebooks I designed and made for friends out of old envelopes and scrap paper.
I have a fascination with cranes and how Singapore is surrounded by so many of them today. Perhaps it’s this idea of how such a simple piece of equipment towers over all of us and moves so silently, cutting through the skies above as if waving a magic wand. They come and go just as quietly, never intending to stay forever. Such an ephemeral existence is contradicted by what is left after it goes, a permanent site in what was once empty or something else in our memories. Here is my snapshot of it before it goes and leaves us with something to replace this memory.