The Mobile Park
2023 | Fine art archival print | 26.65 X 40 inches (67.7 X 101.6 cm) | Edition of 3 + 1 AP

Film, literature and popular culture are replete with representations of cars as an emblem of power, privilege and modernity, endowing their owners with the freedom to traverse both socioeconomic and geographical confines. In the Singaporean context, owning one’s set of wheels has not only become an indispensable criteria to fulfilling the Singapore Dream; it is also valuable territory for a momentary escape from the pressures of life. The Mobile Park which plays upon the dual meanings of a parking lot or a recreation ground on the move, is a series exploring automobiles as a quick-fix release valve for the undercurrents of carnal desire humming beneath a highly circumscribed existence. It features staged photos reconstructing lurid affairs playing out within stationary cars parked at deserted spots, with windows plastered with newspapers for privacy — a common phenomenon sighted in the eighties and nineties. Illuminated with strobe lights, these images appear bare and exposed, mirroring the air of quiet desperation in an era wherein private passions took a backseat to utilitarian goals, and when every bid for space and privacy is a desperate, hard-fought battle.

- Text by Kong Yen LIn