Picturing Chinatown Project Website Preview and Soft-Launch Party At Good Morning Nanyang Cafe On 14 May 2015

On last Thursday evening 14 May 2015, the Singapore Heritage Society ("SHS") had organised a wrap party at Good Morning Nanyang Cafe located at 75 Pagoda Street for the entire Picturing Chinatown project participants to celebrate all of their hard work that has gone into pulling off this project (funded by Singapore Memory Project). 

I am happy to announce that the online exhibition and website (http://picturingchinatown.com) has been just soft-launched, a sneak preview on our interesting stories on Chinatown. I am so honoured to be part of this finite work with a clear goal that the whole team has liked to bring to life. 

Who doesn’t agree that ending a project brings a good feeling? A wrap party usually mark the end of a lot of hard work. Actually, I don’t think we celebrate enough at the launch point yet. We should call more attention to the success we achieved and the support we got from many involved in a project. The project team has put enormous effort into developing research materials to support the participants in the process of developing and managing their thoughts and reflection projects with a nostalgia scope. It has been a meaningful and fulfilling journey for all of us since our first bi-weekly workshop commenced in January! These are things we’re truly pleased to announce.

The soft-launch and wrap party at Good Morning Nanyang Cafe started promptly at 6.30pm to see the photo display for Picturing Chinatown! 

These are my photo exhibits (see more pictures at this link too) on dying trades operating in Chinatown, featuring Mr Kwek (street cobbler at People's Park Complex), Mdm Lee (knife and scissors sharpener at People's Park Complex), Mr Lee (back alley barber at Amoy Street) and Mr and Mrs Kang (vegetable seller at Sago Lane).

The core project team really did everything they could to make it happen and always with a smile. Dr Chua Ai Lin (President of SHS) did a fantastic job as the project lead for this project, Jean Chia and Victor Yue were huge help with so many pieces in addition to the research content, Li-Anne Tan and Carolyn Lim were invaluable for interaction design and build. 

All the participants (including myself) also played an important role in the team and in our best ability to meet this incredibly important preview date. It was absolutely a team effort! We also added that how valuable our contribution was by being positive, engaged and responsive and thereby move efficiently through the project.

We finally had a group photo at the wrap party!  (Above and below) Jean, Yee Ting, Wenxin, Enjiao, Shin Kian, Hee Keng, Vivian, Kim Geok, Kah Hwee, Carolyn, Ester, Andrew and Li Anne. 

Not in picture: Louise, Ai Lin and Victor.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for all the hard work you had done in this project. Please keep on giving, both in its community-building effects - friendships and creative relationships forged - and its great stories. I look forward to keeping in touch and our next collaboration in any time to come soon!

Special thanks to SHS for running the Picturing Chinatown project. I'm always so excited to meet members of this community. Everyone is pretty much awesome. Keep up the great work!