A R T I S T P R O J E C T

AS WE WALK ON WATER

ROBERT ZHAO RENHUI

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土井:10.1162/ARTM_a_00112

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SINGAPORE EMPIRE DOCK general view of bukit tampines, 前 1945

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CHANGI, SINGAPORE possibly 1970s

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EASTERN COAST, SINGAPORE possibly 1970s

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SINGAPORE

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SINGAPORE

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CHANGI, SINGAPORE possibly 1970s

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wESTERN COAST, SINGAPORE possibly 1970s

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uNNAMED HIll possibly tampines

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SINGAPORE wIlD ANIMAl

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ulu TIRuM

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SAND fROM ulu TIRuM

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GAlI bATu overlooking bukit panjang

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As we walk on water

In the 1960s, Singapore began gouging the soil from its tiny hills and ridges and using
it to reclaim land. The island is virtually flat today, forcing the government to buy
sand from Malaysia, Cambodia, and Indonesia to continue with its reclamation efforts.

In the early stages of each land reclamation project, when the imported sand sits
for some time, enormous sand dunes and desert-like landscapes begin to dominate the
eastern and western coasts of Singapore, mainly in Tuas, Punggol, Marine Parade, 和
Changi. when these deserts started appearing in the 1960s, they took the place of the
beaches that locals used to frequent. Making do with what they had, Singaporeans
flocked to these reclaimed spaces on the weekends to walk toward the new shorelines,
in the hopes of reaching the beaches they once knew.

In the late 1990s, my father would take me to these reclaimed lands on the west coast
of Singapore. These places were so huge it would take 30 minutes of driving before we
could see the sea. As a young boy, it was always a mystery to me why such landscapes
existed in my otherwise-tropical island home. The city was only 224 square miles before
the reclamation projects started in 1960. 经过 2030 it will grow to 317 square miles.

A casual visit to the reclaimed lands has become nearly impossible in recent years
since they are now fenced up. So I now make it a point to visit coastal dunes in other
countries to try to relive the experience of walking on the sands of Singapore in my
青年. There are giant dunes in the middle of several cities today, including the Dune
du Pyla of Arcachon in france, the Tottori Sand Dunes in Japan, and the dunes under
fort funston in San francisco. I take photographs in these foreign places and imagine
that these were the kind of images I could have taken in Singapore when I was younger.
Sometimes I wish I had a souvenir of the dunes of Singapore because most of us actually
forget that, as Singaporeans, we are mostly walking on water, or on the sand of others.