Shen Jiaqi Singaporean, 1989
Former Familiarity, 2026
Acrylic on linen
121 x 136 cm
Copyright The Artist
The painting reflects on Parco Bugis Shopping Centre as it once existed in the 1990s, a distinctive moment in Singapore’s retail history when preserved shophouses were reconfigured into an air-conditioned...
The painting reflects on Parco Bugis Shopping Centre as it once existed in the 1990s, a distinctive moment in Singapore’s retail history when preserved shophouses were reconfigured into an air-conditioned interior, promising comfort, novelty, and escape. Drawn from an archival photograph, the image revisits the mall imagining its eventual erasure, when its façades, walkways, and rhythms are no longer inhabited by everyday routines. Rendered through paint, these familiar architectural forms are gently softened and displaced, allowing memory, light, and feeling to take precedence over documentation. Parco Bugis becomes a vessel for collective familiarity and quiet loss, reflecting how spaces of temporary relief are shaped and undone by time, shifting priorities, and the pressures of urban change.