fear.is.a.box.

In response to chinny's comment about why I've posted up 'site photos' (they're aren't really about the construction site, but more about the cranes and diggers in case you haven't realised it by now), this is just for continuity with regards to my post about the photographic assignment titled 'The Box' I received around 2 weeks back. I believe that beauty and grace can be found in the most unseemingly beautiful things, if we would just pause to look.

This is my take on the presence of the box in Singapore's society- it is a critique on a national mentality based on the ubiquitous and haunting nature of these construction monsters. They are a common sight and an everyday occurence but yet it becomes a little freaky because one never sees them being transported onto site; it's almost as if they had appeared overnight by some strange mysterious force; it's almost as if they had a mind of their own and can move at will; it's almost as if their army has infiltrated our borders due to the sheer numbers of them around all of a sudden.

Yet, if you stop to probe a little deeper and reflect a little more, you start to realise that it is we, as a nation, that have allowed them to do so. In our bid to 'upgrade' ourselves constantly, and 'transform' our society into one that is cutting-edge and always on the forefront of technology, of design, of ideas, of architecture, and of infrastructure, we have allowed construction sites to spring up all over the island. We have torn down buildings of real historical value like the former National Library, and replaced them with a humonguous-looking, totally out-of-scale building within the designated civic area (which incidentally is the photo with the perspective that yuwen likes). We have shifted our priorities, neglected our roots and always strive to build higher, better, faster, more. As we reach greater heights in our achievements, the cracks in the foundations start to become more apparent. Without anything to tie us back, to root us into our culture and society, we thus become superficial and shallow in our outlook on life. We get caught up in the imminent rat race, our lives get reduced to that of unthinking imbeciles. Fear is a box, and kiasu-ism is the fear of losing out.