Pulau Sudong, 1951, Ivan Polunin Collection
Conceptualized as an ‘archival site’, the exhibition also brings together Dr. Polunin’s personal objects which sit alongside the photographic displays.
Encouraging its audiences to connect intuitively but also set against the different legacies of colonial knowledge production and of what constitutes a sense of the Singapore Self - I, Polunin -strives to challenge take-for-granted notions of memory and melancholy in the postcolonial era.
Arriving in Singapore from England in 1948, Dr. Polunin taught Social Medicine and Public Health at the then University of Malaya. In an adventurous career that began with the filmic documentation of tropical diseases, Dr. Polunin’s ethnographies grew to encompass hundreds of hours of film footage on Malaya’s eclectic sociocultural practices and its rich biodiversity.
Free admission.
More details on the NUS museums website. Thanks to Otterman speaks for the alert.
See also the Urban Forest blog for an account of a visit to the exhibition.
The exhibition will also be featured on Okto on 10 Aug (Mon) 9.30pm – Ivan Polunin’s 1950’s & 1960’s images of Singapore on “Lost Images,” from Otterman speaks.
Guided Tours
Tuesdays to Fridays: By appointment
Saturdays: 2pm- 3pm (Selected exhibition only. Please call the Museum for details)
Venue: NUS Museum, University Cultural Centre, 50 Kent Ridge Crescent more details
Opening Hours: 10am to 7.30pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays), 10am to 6pm Sundays, Closed on Mondays and Public Holidays
Website: http://www.nus.edu.sg/museum
Contact: museum@nus.edu.sg or call 6516 8817
