志异 Draft by Drama box december 2013 (english) | Page 68

Looking into the Past dr af t vo l 2 is su e 2 m e m o r y x s p ac e o p en c a ll 68 submitted by Yeh Yue Hann The method is simple. Find an old photo and try to line up the photo with its present day scene. The result is a juxtaposition of the past onto the present. In 2009, American Jason Powell started a Flickr group called ‘Looking into the Past’ where he superimposed old images he found from photographic archives into their present day state. The practice sparked a small following within the online community, which responded with their own contributions. Some of whom took their own family photographs to recreate unique images. Singapore has gone through many physical changes over the last few decades, with some iconic landscapes of a generation such as the Stamford Road National Library, already lost, but many still remain. In a bid to recapture some lost memories, I flipped through family albums to find old photographs I could use to express my nostalgia. The exercise reconnected me with my personal memories and also those of my family. Returning physically to the same location of the original photographed image allowed me to reconnect with that memory. Standing on the ground where that photograph was taken made me feel like I was there again, even if only in my mind. It was truly looking into my past. This the 1 Seng Me the founta thou back undergo reborn Gal