Digital Fellowship|Popular Photography in Singapore from the 1900s to the 1970s: Photo Studios and Pictorial Periodicals



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In this presentation, Digital Fellow Zhuang Wubin shares about popular photography in Singapore from the 1900s to 1970s using archival materials from the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) and the National Library (NL). By focusing on the praxes of studio photography and pictorial periodicals (画报), he talks about the working process of turning archival materials such as oral history interviews from NAS and pictorial periodicals from NL – in particular Liangyou (良友; The Young Companion; published in Republican Shanghai and subsequently Hong Kong from 1926 to 1945) and Nanyang Monthly (南洋画报; published in Singapore from 1957 to 1965) – into story maps that combine both visuals and text using Knight Lab’s StoryMapJS. As part of this research endeavour, Wubin maps the connections that once existed among some of the iconic photo studios and businesses in Singapore, retracing the lines of division that both employers and employees of photo studios maintained or traversed in proliferating the trade. He also maps the different imaginaries of Nanyang/Southeast Asia published in Liangyou and Nanyang Monthly.

Title
Digital Fellowship|Popular Photography in Singapore from the 1900s to the 1970s: Photo Studios and Pictorial Periodicals
Artist
Zhuang Wubin is a writer who makes photographs, publications and exhibitions. He is interested in photography’s entanglements with modernity, colonialism, nationalism, “Chineseness” and the Cold War in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. Zhuang received his PhD by Published Work (Research–Photography) from University of Westminster, London.
Subjects
Language
Type
Video Recording
Abstract
Zhuang Wubin shared about popular photography in Singapore from the 1900s to 1970s using archival materials from the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) and the National Library (NL).
Year
2025
Original Publisher(s)
Digital Publisher(s)
National Library Board Singapore