Culture, Heritage, & Conservation
Culture, Heritage, & Conservation
Projects starting in AY23/24
Embedded Files
Alongside Elephants: The Human Stories Shaping Care in Chiang Mai
Alongside Elephants: The Human Stories Shaping Care in Chiang Mai
Alongside Elephants
In Thailand, elephant conservation is deeply imbricated with and often reliant upon the tourism industry. In recent years, discordant tourist desires for performative experiences, like elephant shows, versus “natural” interactions, like observing elephants roaming unchained, have challenged caretakers and organisations as they strive to implement the best model of care for elephants under their guardianship.Our group's project hopes to shine a light on the human side of elephant care in Thailand. Often overlooked, there is a wide network of caretakers – from an indigenous community with a 250-years-old relationship with elephants to a university veterinarian – who dedicate their lives to these animals behind the scenes. The stories they have shared with us are captured in a photobook featuring 12 in-depth conversations, a "Day in the Life" documentary of a Pakinyaw elephant caretaker in the mountains of northern Thailand, and our companion website. We invite you to explore the richness, diversity, and complexity of elephant care in Chiang Mai, Thailand.Alongside Elephants
Project Country: Thailand
Project Supervisor: Dr Alberto Perez Pereiro
Group Ref: 23CCAP03
Revitalizing Cham Education and Heritage: Library Renovation, Digital Learning, and Survivor Testimonies in Cambodia
Revitalizing Cham Education and Heritage: Library Renovation, Digital Learning, and Survivor Testimonies in Cambodia
Cambodia Community Library Initiative (Let's Read, Ou Ruessei!)
Our project is centered on empowering the Cham community in Ou Ruessei, Cambodia. The Cham are an ethnic, religious, and cultural minority, that were targeted under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia during the late 1970s. The first phase of our project involved renovating a classroom into a children’s library in the village, and donating more than a hundred English books to the library. The second phase involved donating tablets to the library to aid in the children’s digital learning. The third and final phase involved interviewing three elderly survivors of Khmer Rouge persecution and creating a book on their experiences, translated from English to Khmer and Cham. Altogether, our initiatives have been crafted with a consciousness of the Cham community’s position as a minority group: to expand their limited access to educational opportunities, and preserve their heritage, language, and culture.Perseverence in Persecution (click here to watch)This documentary features footage of the villagers in Ou Ruessei and our team elaborating on the process of book creation. Cambodia Community Library Initiative (Let's Read, Ou Ruessei!)
Project Country: Cambodia
Project Supervisor: Dr Alberto Perez Pereiro
Group Ref: 23CCAP01
For more info: Tan Jun Wei (tanjunwei72@gmail.com)
Elephant in the Room: Elephant Ecotourism and Community Visibility in Huay Pakkoot
Elephant in the Room: Elephant Ecotourism and Community Visibility in Huay Pakkoot
We❤️🐘
Our project focuses on improving the elephant ecotourism model at the Karen village of Huay Pakkoot. We worked alongside the Huay Pakkoot Elephant Community Foundation to improve ecotourism infrastructure, created archival records for both the local cultural traditions and native biodiversity, with an aim of integrating it into their ecotourism model. Our works include setting up signboards along the main road and within the village to attract passing tourists and help them navigate the village. We also made a short documentary series about the village and created a wildlife project to track sightings of different species around Huay Pakkoot. Lastly, we crafted menus and field guides in English for the community to utilise when bringing tourists out for hikes or to spot elephants. All of these are in hopes to make the village more visible and appealing to passing motorists and potential tourists who may pass by Huay Pakkoot.We❤️🐘
Our Creative Practice work aims to exhibit items from our community partner's village, bringing the atmosphere and vibes of the village and life of being a mahout to Singapore. It will be an interactive exhibit and photo booth where people are able to wear and hold the various exhibit items to take photos with. There will also be field guides and trailers that introduces attendees to the wildlife of Huay Pakkoot on display at our booth.
Project Country: Thailand
Project Supervisor: A/P Peter Vail
Group Ref: 23CCPV03
Tracing Transitions: Cultural Mapping Project Chronicles Hawker Journeys from Tanglin Halt to Margaret Drive
Tracing Transitions: Cultural Mapping Project Chronicles Hawker Journeys from Tanglin Halt to Margaret Drive
Cultural Mapping: From Tanglin Halt to Margaret Drive Hawker Centre (Cultural Cartographers)
Our project is a cultural mapping exercise to document the history and progression of the shift from Tanglin Halt Food Centre to the present-day site of Margaret Drive Hawker Centre. Our team collaborated with My Community, a non-profit organisation dedicated to documenting and celebrating the everyday stories of Singapore. The problem we saw in our conversations with our community partner was the transition of Tanglin Halt residents to their new flats in Dawson. Our project extended on that friction by focusing on the relocation of the hawkers specifically. With support from My Community’s resources, we adapted the practice of cultural mapping—an interdisciplinary method that transforms community narratives into tangible forms of representation—by conducting interviews and drawing stories from our visits to Margaret Drive Hawker Centre. This culminated in a short documentary capturing their memories of Tanglin Halt and their reflections on the changes and challenges they’ve faced.Cultural Mapping: From Tanglin Halt to Margaret Drive Hawker Centre (Cultural Cartographers)
Project Country: Singapore
Project Supervisor: Dr Nurhidayahti Mohammad Miharja
Group Ref: 23CCNM03
For more info: Evangel Wong (evangelwong@gmail.com)
Digitising Creativity: New Central Archive Showcases TacTic Plastic Collective’s Artistic Journey in Yogyakarta
Digitising Creativity: New Central Archive Showcases TacTic Plastic Collective’s Artistic Journey in Yogyakarta
Co-creating a digital art-chive: TacTic x TicTac (TicTac)
Our project sought to create a centralised digital archive for the Yogyakarta-based art collective TacTic Plastic. The archive catalogues the collective's all past and present artworks and projects to serve as a comprehensive portfolio, providing the public with a deeper understanding of TacTic and their artistic endeavours. Co-creating a digital art-chive: TacTic x TicTac (TicTac)
Memories of Jogja
Scroll to the end of the photo gallery to view the diorama titled "Memories of Jogja", co-created with our partners from Universitas Gadjah Mada. Each individual piece is a symbol of our time in Yogyakarta, and is made with recycled materials.Memories of Jogja
Project Country: Indonesia
Project Supervisor: A/P Miguel Escobar
Group Ref: 23ADME02
For more info: Jessica Wu @yueshot (Telegram) / jessicawusy@gmail.com
Archive and Amplify — Digitalising Art with Balai Budaya Minomartani in Yogyakarta
Archive and Amplify — Digitalising Art with Balai Budaya Minomartani in Yogyakarta
English Website for BBM (IEx BBM)
Balai Budaya Minomartani (BBM) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia is a cultural centre that aims to provide the community with a common space for celebrating the arts — music, dance, folklore and more. They mainly host musicians, performers and students from all around Yogyakarta by offering them a conducive space to practice rehearsals, conduct performances and work on their individual projects, but also host musicians and visitors from overseas on occasions too. Their increasing popularity has led to an interest in creating an English website for foreign visitors who are curious about BBM. Working together with Balai Budaya Minomartani (BBM), a cultural center in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, we developed an English website that integrated features from their previous renditions of Indonesian websites. This website hopes to increase awareness about BBM’s “space for the arts” for foreign visitors and rejuvenate this interest in the arts amongst the newer generations in Yogyakarta as well.English Website for BBM (IEx BBM)
Featuring guest voice acting by our community partners, and cheeky beavers, this animation illustrates our IEx group's experiences and takeaways from working together with our community, Balai Budaya Minomartani, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Project Country: Indonesia
Project Supervisor: A/P Miguel Escobar
Group Ref: 23ADME01
Preserving Penang’s Fishing Heritage: Defending Sungai Batu Amid Reclamation Threat
Preserving Penang’s Fishing Heritage: Defending Sungai Batu Amid Reclamation Threat
Project Nelayan Sungai Batu
In response to the Penang South Island (PSI) reclamation project launched in 2024, which threatens the livelihoods and fishing heritage of the Sungai Batu community in southern Penang, our student-led initiative seeks to document and preserve the community’s traditional fishing practices and perspectives. Through fieldwork and collaboration, we created a website that features a cultural map, a glossary of localized terms, and a short documentary to highlight the voices and heritage at risk of erasure. Our project aims not only to raise awareness of the socio-ecological impacts of large-scale development but also to centre the experiences of affected communities. We worked closely with the fishermen of Sungai Batu and partnered with Jaringan Ekologi dan Iklim (JEDI), a grassroots environmental NGO, to ensure our documentation remained community-driven and respectful. The project contributes to ongoing conversations about coastal development, cultural preservation, and sustainability in Malaysia.Click here to browse the website.Project Nelayan Sungai Batu
This is a documentary film about the effects of a land reclamation project on a fishing community in Sungai Batu, Penang, from the perspective of two fishermen - Shahril and Faiz. The 15-minute film contains interviews with the fishermen, some background information about the reclamation project, as well as footage of the fishermen going out to sea.
Project Country: Malaysia
Project Supervisor: Ms Yueh Siang Chang
Group Ref: 23ADYS01
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse