Singapore is technically a secular country. A large number of its ethnic Chinese population practices traditional Taoist rituals, though evangelical Christianity is encroaching quickly. As an ethnic Chinese person raised in Christian traditions, I felt surgically removed from these practices and I wanted to document them and learn about them whenever I could.
You’ll find signs of faith everywhere you go. Outside local ‘coffee shops’ (kopitiams), inside wet markets and hawker centres, under trees, in a street corner somewhere. At various Taoist festivals. At ‘void decks’ (the ground floor of a public housing building), especially during funerals.
From my archives, some photos of how faith is professed in black and white. First photo is a film photograph, the rest are digital (some kind of Sony Nex camera from 2012).
Here’s a link to an interesting story about how some of these deities are made by craftsmen.
