STEP into the streets of Singapore past with a little-seen
collection of photographs and artefacts that goes on display at the
National Museum next week.
The display, titled Surviving The Streets, runs from next Monday
to Aug 22. It shows a variety of street artisans at work and play
in the city from the early to mid-20th century.
These entrepreneurs played a pivooffered hair-braiding services
or a cut and shave. Some worked from stalls, others carried their
wares in baskets but all transformed public space through economic
and social activity.
According to Ms Lee Chor Lin, director of the National Museum of
Singapore, 'the exhibition is as much about the streets as it is
about the people who worked on them'.
About 130 images and objects from the National Museum of
Singapore and the National Archives are being put on display,
according to Ms Vidya Murthy, who curated the exhibition.
Many have never been seen before. Surviving The Streets is about
'the small people who sit on the side of the road and do little
things like beat utensils into shape', and not about famous
pioneers, she says.
