Hawkers v.2021
Text by AL Lee
Contributing Photographers: Audrey Wong, Nash Teh Peng Wee, Peggy Teo & Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts).
Image: Pasir Panjang Food Centre by AL Lee
30th May 2021, Singapore – Due to an increase of unlinked cases, Singapore announced the Covid-19 Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) which takes effect from Sunday, 16 May 2021 through to Sunday, 13 June 2021. One of the restrictions includes “No Dining In” to which we saw all the tables and chairs are (once again) sealed/blocked just like our Phase 1 in May 2020. On 19th May 2021, I announced to our Telegram group that I am intending to do a project on Hawker Centres without the actual brief then I was informed that the idea had been plagiarized by other photographers. I cannot imagine what would have been if I had shared the full project brief.
Back to the project, there are many things that will definitely go down in Singapore’s image history, one of them will definitely be how our Food Centres looks like right now. Already the businesses are suffering due to the restrictions, and our hardworking hawkers have to take another blow due to the recent increased cases. It is akin to what we saw during Phase 1, tables & chairs are sealed up/ cordoned off or blocked. And so, I decided to combine a few elements together for this project.
1. Silence of the Night – This project was carried out after 11pm at night and all images are shot between 11pm through 3am. A busy place in the day that turns creepily quiet and solemn in the cover of the night.
2. Tables & Chairs – Different Food Centres uses different ways, different methods, different materials to enforce the restriction. We noted the use of Safety Tapes, White Tapes, Cling Wraps, Black Trash Bags, Cloth Tapes and many others. And these were utilized in many ways and patterns.
3. Heritage Food Centres – While there are certainly many hawker centres/ food centres in Singapore, these hawker centres made it to this project list for several reasons. Many are famous food centres, some dating back to the 1970s, some are popular due to the offerings and some are places that holds dearly to my heart.
The selected Food Centres/ Hawker Centres as below;
- Pasir Panjang Food Centre
- Maxwell Food Centre
- Amoy Street Food Centre
- People’s Park Food Centre
- Jurong West Hawker Centre & Market
- Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre
- Seah Imm Food Centre
- Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market & Food Centre
- Hong Lim Market & Food Centre
- Boon Lay Place Market & Food Village
- Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre (Jurong East)
- West Coast Market Square
- Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre (Clementi Central)
- Tanglin Halt Food Centre
- Redhill Food Centre
- ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre
- Holland Village Market & Food Centre
- Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre
- Chong Pang City Wet Market & Food Centre, (Yishun)
- Ang Mo Kio Central Market & Food Centre
- Toa Payoh Lorong 5 Food Centre
- Circuit Road Market & Food Centre
- Bendemeer Food Centre
- Old Airport Road Food Centre & Shopping Mall
- Eunos Crescent Market and Food Centre
- Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre (Bedok Central)
- East Coast Lagoon Food Village
- Marine Parade Central Market and Food Centre
- Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre
- Changi Village Hawker Centre
That’s 30 Food Centres/Hawker Centres to cover! So I decided to rope in some help from a few photographers. The project team was formed with Audrey Wong, Nash Teh, Peggy Teo, Serene Ong from Serene Digital Crafts & myself.
So each of us will visit 6 locations (total 30) after 11pm at night and try to capture the current situation with the above theme at these locations.
Let’s Start!
Pasir Panjang Hawker Centre – by AL Lee
121 Pasir Panjang Rd, Singapore 118543
Boon Lay Place Market and Food Village – by Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts)
221A Boon Lay Pl, Singapore 641221
Chong Pang City Wet Market & Food Centre, (Yishun) – by Peggy Teo
105 Yishun Ring Rd, Singapore 760105
Ang Mo Kio Central Market & Food Centre – by Audrey Wong
724 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6, Singapore 560724
ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre – by Nash Teh Peng Wee
6 Jalan Bukit Merah, Singapore 150006
Maxwell Food Centre – by AL Lee
1 Kadayanallur St, Singapore 069184
Seah Imm Food Centre – by Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts)
2 Seah Im Rd, Singapore 099114
Old Airport Road Food Centre & Shopping Mall – by Peggy Teo
51 Old Airport Rd, Singapore 390051
Circuit Road Market & Food Centre – by Audrey Wong
80 Circuit Rd, Singapore 370080
Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre – by Nash Teh Peng Wee
51 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 588215
Amoy Street Food Centre – by AL Lee
7 Maxwell Rd, Singapore 069111
Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market & Food Centre – by Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts)
6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza, Singapore 081006
Toa Payoh Lorong 5 Food Centre – by Peggy Teo
75 Lrg. 5 Toa Payoh, Singapore 310075
Eunos Crescent Market and Food Centre – by Audrey Wong
4A Eunos Cres, Singapore 402004
Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre – by Nash Teh Peng Wee
448 Clementi Ave 3, Singapore 120448
People’s Park Food Centre – by AL Lee
32 New Market Rd, Singapore 050032
Hong Lim Market & Food Centre – by Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts)
531A Upper Cross St, Singapore 051531
Changi Village Hawker Centre – by Peggy Teo
2 Changi Village Rd, Singapore 500002
Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre (Bedok Central) – by Audrey Wong
208B New Upper Changi Rd, 462208
Holland Village Market & Food Centre – by Nash Teh Peng Wee
1 Lor Mambong, Singapore 277700
Jurong West 505 Market & Food Centre – by AL Lee
505 Jurong West Street 52, Singapore 640505
Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre – by Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts)
254 Jurong East St 24, Singapore 600254
Marine Parade Central Market and Food Centre – by Peggy Teo
84 Marine Parade Central, Singapore 440084
East Coast Lagoon Food Village – by Audrey Wong
1220 ECP, Singapore 468960
Redhill Food Centre – by Nash Teh Peng Wee
85 Redhill Ln, Singapore 150085
Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre – by AL Lee
3 Yung Sheng Rd, Singapore 618499
West Coast Market Square – by Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts)
726 Clementi West St. 2, Singapore 120726
Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre – by Peggy Teo
110 Pasir Ris Central, Singapore 519641
Bendemeer Market & Food Centre – by Audrey Wong
29 Bendemeer Rd, Singapore 330029
Tanglin Halt Food Centre – by Nash Teh Peng Wee
1A Commonwealth Dr, Singapore 141001
Project Objective
– to capture the silence of the night of popular heritage hawker centres during the Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) from Sunday, 16 May 2021 through to Sunday, 13 June 2021. The tables & chairs are being sealed off once again to public as no dine-in allowed. Combining this and the silence of the night, these popular hawker centres return to silence and a worser state of disconnection from reality while struggling on to stay afloat during this pandemic.
Let’s meet the Photographers for this Project!
Editor’s Note.
“As much as we are still fighting the pandemic, we must not forget the hawkers who are working hard to feed us. This set of photos from this project team will go down in history where these food centres are (once again) sealed. Through the passage of time, it will be something that we can all remember and becomes part of our covid memories as well as a page in the history of Singapore.” – Editor AL Lee
Here’s a parting shot.
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Nicely done! Portrays the loneliness of the lockdown.
It’s a great idea to take these pictures after midnight.. or maybe before the sunrise? As long as it’s still dark, and really shows no one there… otherwise you will get crowd still during the opening hours.