“Singapore Snaps” to chronicle life in Singapore with Animation

The project- Singapore Snaps (SG Snaps), is a relational art project seeking to create 3 animations with collected photographs contributed by the community.

In response to the call for proposals put forth by the National Library Board, Artist Lead Tan Wei Keong- award winning Singaporean Animator and graduate of the School of Art, Design and Media, NTU, was inspired by the fragility of memories and the innate human need for preservation. His proposal combines his expertise in animation, with the expertise of fellow artist and project Engagement Facilitor, Samantha Tio, who specialises in art that creates a social environment in which people can come together to participate in a shared activity.

Photographs, in their printed form, are susceptible to the elements of the environment. As time passes, ink and paper lose their integrity and disintegrates, slowly but surely. As this happens, the memory intended to be captured by the photographer, becomes vulnerable, and without proper care and steps to preserve these photographs, these memories will be lost.

SG Snaps aspires to help the community preserve their personal memories by offering complimentary photograph digitising services for a limited time period. To do this, collection booths will be set up in four national libraries across the island, with the first being located in Toa Payoh Central, from 12pm to 7pm, May through to June. The time and location of the other collecton booths are published on the project website, www.sgsnaps.com

To participate in the project, members of the public will need to bring their photo albums to the booth where volunteers will help them with the process. In exchange for the digitising service, we encourage the community to contribute a copy of the digitised photograph to the SG Snaps “photo bank”. Throughout the collection period of May to August, the SG Snaps Facebook page will provide a daily update of the photographs collected for digitising, while the website will provide a weekly update of number of photographs collected, and featured Contributors with their recollections inspired by their photographs.

After August, the duplicate copies in the photo bank will be inspected for content and quality. During this process, we hope

to uncover content commonalities, which will serve as a thread in the three animations that will be created in the final leg of the project.

The entire project is a one and a half year effort, which will engage student as project ambassadors. They will be visiting homes of residents in selected neighbourhoods, learning how to handle photographic artifacts and polishing their journalistic skills through oral interviews with participants of the project.

The project will conclude with a screening for the donors, making their engagement with the project come full cycle whereby the act of watching the animation of shared memories will be an act of creating a new memory.

The animations will also be screened for the public, in conjunction with the National Day 2015 celebrations.

Libraries where SG Snaps has Collection Booths:
Main booth:


Central National Library, Level 1.

21 May – 27 July, Wednesday – Sunday, 12pm – 7pm

Neighbourhood booths:

1. Toa Payoh Public Library, Level 2. 


14 May – 1 June, Wednesday – Sunday, 12pm – 7pm

2. Bukit Merah Public Library, Level 1 


11 June – 29 June, Wednesdays – Sundays, 12pm – 7pm

3. Geylang East Public Library, Level 1

9 July – 27 July, Wednesdays – Sundays, 12pm – 7pm

Fast Facts:

1. Duration of Collection: 3 months
2. Target number of collected photographs: 10,000
3. Target number of student volunteers: 100
4. Number of animations to be created: 3

Don’t forget to visit these websites for more information!

1. Website: www.sgsnaps.com
2. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sgsnaps