This blog post is part of the Random Sampling Singapore project. The Project aims to sample 100 places on the island of Singapore over a one year period in order to gain an unbiased and holistic view of the city state.

On 16th of July I went to Sengkang to meet a friend. He is a Singaporean Designer and we walked along the Sungei Serangoon Park Connector along the river to the Buangkok Bridge. Right in the middle of the bridge we stopped to explore coordinate #5.

During our walk we talked mainly about beads, craft and art. He is currently working on a very time intensive and sophisticated beading project. It’s about traditional glass beaded shoes, a craft which was very prestigious in Singapore once. Now only a few people are able to make this kind of shoes.

Sampling

The sidewalk on the bridge was swept clean. Hardly something to find. On a water drainage between the walking path and the street moss was growing around the holes.

About 2 meters from the drainage we found a bone. One single defleshed spinal bone.

At home I looked at the backbone and the moss. The moss appears under the microscope as a lush green forest. With UV light the green turns into blood red. The bone shows the fibrous structure in direction of growth and dotted at a fracture. The surface is soiled with black and brown growth.

The top view of the bone shows a distinctive and symmetrical picture. Three oval foramina, a spinous crown – how lost this piece of its spine?

Artwork

A dissolved view on the geometrical form of a spine bone.

In German the word for spine has multiple meanings.

In preparation for the exhibition at Artporters Gallery “你是特别的。You are special!” from 9. – 15. May 2023 Sean Yeo exhibits his beaded shoes and a designed scarf which he worked on when we were exploring coordinate 5:

“Bettina and I share a respect for craft as a cornerstone of culture, and its perpetuation in new forms while maintaining its integrity. My interest in Peranakan ‘manek potong’ beadwork led to a serendipitous meeting when I attended her exhibition in 2021, and subsequent interaction in her ‘’Random Sampling Singapore’ project. An interesting find at our coordinate became a metaphorical leitmotif – ‘Rückgrat’, German for ‘Backbone’, has parallel connotations in both English and Chinese ‘骨氣’, meaning strength of character and ‘moral integrity’. This is particularly salient when applied to the traditional objective of Peranakan beadwork as a test of a prospective bride’s character – very often the reverse of the work would be inspected to ensure that she was meticulous beyond the decorative facade. 

In practice, one realises that the most tedious aspect of beading lies in ‘tutup tanah’ – covering the background. This is done once the exciting central motifs have been completed and the majority of the canvas still needs to be filled in with equal care in either a single shade or, as a real test of skill and patience, a geometric pattern. This is the point at which most manek potong enthusiasts flounder; mistakes are inevitable, which lead to many hours of unpicking. I had recourse to Photoshop to aid multiple adjustments to my design as I went along, which the Nyonyas obviously lacked. This metaphor of ‘tutup tanah’ applies as well to scientific research and the act of walking, a cartographic exploration and analysis of the ground that is central to Bettina’s islandwide project and her work at large. 

Kasut Manek (beaded slippers). Modern and vintage faceted glass beads, leather, cotton, rubber, Zamak buckles. Shoes made locally by Kwek Choong Shoemaker. Stole of serged cotton voile with ‘Mosquito Sky’ digital print.”