A showcase of 19th century photographs and picture-postcards documenting the Malays and the Malayan
landscape through the lenses of Western photography
Date:
22 April to 1 August 2010
Time:
1pm to 6pm (Mon), 10am to 6pm (Tue-Sun)
Venue:
Malay Heritage Centre Museum, Gallery I & L
FREE ADMISSION!
Delve into the enchanting scenery of the Malay Peninsula and examine the lives of the Malay community during the Colonial Era. From 22 April 2010 to 1 August 2010, the Malay Heritage Centre presents Malays in Early Photographs, a photography exhibition focusing on Malays through the lenses of Western photography at the Malay Heritage Centre Museum.
The exhibition features 56 photographs and picture-postcards from the National Museum of Singapore’s permanent collection dating from the 1860s to the 1930s. The exhibition is curated into two thematic areas – Documentary and Staged:
i) Documentary
Outdoor photographs portraying the idyllic and romantic landscapes of Singapore and Malaya are displayed in this section. These images portray the daily activities and lifestyles of the Malays. They also reveal the rural living conditions and the island’s agricultural development which flourished in the Settlements. Most of the photographs featured in this section are works by Charles J Kleingrothe, a German commercial photographer who was active in the Malay Archipelago in the early 1900s.
ii) Staged
Visitors will be acquainted with studio portraits of Malay royalty, noblemen and elite individuals who donned their royal regalia to illustrate their wealth and status. Commoners in studio portraits were usually pictured conducting ‘characteristic’ activities. These images were then popularly reproduced as commercial picture-postcards.
Complementing the showcase of photographs are two audiovisual displays: an archival footage of Malaya in the 1930s displayed in an adapted version of a mobile film pushcart and a sound installation of Munsyi Abdullah’s first encounter with photography taken from his autobiography, Hikayat Abdullah.
