- Description
- Praise
- About the Photographer
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Look inside the book
Do all Singaporeans have a particular “look”—is there a unique quality to our faces that transcends our ethnic differences and immediately identifies us as Singaporeans? What does it mean to look Singaporean? In 100 Singaporeans, award-winning photographer Wesley Loh Kar-Wai documents Singaporeans from all walks of life in this collection of stark black-and-white close-ups. The result is a stunning collection of intimate portraits whose subjects bravely invite us to meet their unwavering, direct gaze—and we begin to discover commonalities that can be conveyed without words.
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“In a few years, it is very likely that this series will be considered a milestone in the history of Singapore photography.”
—from the introduction by Raphaël Millet“A book of portraits created as a keepsake of the Singaporean face-scape as we know it today before it inevitably disappears with the changing demographic of the Lion City…flipping through its pages will be akin to sifting through a forgotten family album and in that way, rekindles memories of our own identity.”
—Esquire Singapore“The faces cut across age groups and races. They are both individual and reminiscent of a certain Uniquely Singaporean stereotype. The slightly stressed-looking Chinese salaryman with a thickly knotted tie. The elderly woman who could be anyone’s grandmother. The princely Sikh man in a turban. And one for the art lovers: Yugoslavia-born artist Milenko Prvacki, Singaporean for more than 10 years, with his resplendent moustache. These pink IC holders are as diverse as they come.”
—Adeline Chia, ARTINFO Southeast Asia -
Wesley Loh Kar-Wai is the principal photographer and owner of Memphis West Pictures. His career has focused on eliciting honest and illuminating portraits of individuals. Since returning to Singapore in 2009 after a four-year sojourn in Paris, Loh has worked primarily in black-and-white photography. He has showcased his work in solo exhibitions in Paris and at the National University of Singapore Centre for the Arts and in a group show at the National Museum of Singapore. In 2012, he was shortlisted for the prestigious ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu photography award and won the inaugural Eternal Discovery Prize.