Treasure Island: National Museum of Singapore

"It (Singapore) abounds in an endless variety of plants equally interesting to the botanist, the agriculturist and the gardener, with unrivalled facilities and opportunities of disseminating these treasures and exchanging them for others."

These words were written in 1822 by Nathaniel Wallich, a Botanist and the first Dane to arrive in the newly established settlement of Singapore. He found so much value in Singapore’s plant diversity he dubbed the local botanicals “treasures.”

"I had the pleasure of meeting one of Singapore's most exciting new artists on May/Labour Day weekend in her new exhibit "Treasure Island" at the National Musuem. Mamakan has an ideology which takes city folks from the ground up to their roots, so to speak, literally with the rediscovery and classification of the flora and fauna indigenous to Singapore. Mamakan is keen to share and re-introduce the concepts of foraging, gathering and looking by way of photography in a large scale data collection artwork for Singapore. One segment of her long term conceptual interactive and viewer inclusive art project was in the Singapore Biennale 2016. ****Highly recommended." - Jane M Shishido

To colonial settlers the native plants were treasures because of their potential market value. In Wallach’s case, he was simply passionate about the wonders of Mother Nature. To the pre-colonial native inhabitants, the plants were a valuable as the source of life itself. And yet, to most of us who live on this "Treasure Island" today, the local edible plants are barely visible at all.

To find a treasure, sometimes you need to borrow someone else’s eyes. Or tastebuds. Or sense of smell.  

That is not enough: we must experience these treasures for ourselves in our own time and in our own modern way.

You may begin to see what I have seen as I started on my own botanical love affair, and all that Wallich saw, and all that our ancestors have seen before that. Not only what they have seen, but also what they have tasted, touched and smelled.

Through this alchemy, what was once of no value becomes immensely valuable, not because we can put a number on it—in fact, often we cannot—but for all that it teaches us about the world and our place in it. We are not apart from nature, we are a part of it.

Treasure Island Botanical Wall

Glass, Botanicals, Cement

A sensorial and interactive installation of locally-grown edible botanicals symbolizing living natural treasures. This wall, in the round organic shape of an island, contains 88 local edible botanicals preserved in 1408 glass jars on concrete cement blocks, representing a rare harmony between nature and city. Each jar is labelled in handwriting by the artist and can be opened and smelled.

Partners

Treasure Island is presented by National Heritage Board (NHB) as part of Singapore Heritage Festival with National Museum of Singapore (NMS) as the venue supporter. Thank you to also to Mahota Commune, Food for Thought, National Parks Board (NParks), Toh Kim Bock (TKB) and The Tropicalist for their gracious support for this exhibition.