OH! Potong Pasir Tour

What do floating dead pigs, ukuleles, tarpaulin and a treehouse have in common?

It might surprise you to know they’re all part of the fascinating and ever-changing narrative of Potong Pasir. Once (and to a certain extent, still) considered a sleepy backwater in Singapore’s concrete jungle, Potong Pasir is a classic example of #throwback.

For the uninitiated, the OH! Potong Pasir tour isn’t just a stroll around the neighbourhood. The organisers spend a year gathering stories about the estate from its residents, seeking volunteers who are willing to open up their homes, and then linking them up with artists who use these spaces to depict their interpretation of Potong Pasir.

I love going into people’s homes, and I’ve learnt to appreciate it a lot more especially after we went through the process of designing our own place. To me, a home is perhaps the most representative symbol of a person’s style, character and lifestyle preferences. What one chooses to display – or not-, the colour of the walls, the way space is allocated, speaks volumes of one’s personality. Yet, the tours conducted by Oh! Open House do more than just satisfy one’s voyeuristic tendencies. This all-immersive experience opens a platform for discussion, for curiosity, for appreciating our nation’s rich history and for contemplating on how we should proceed from here. (Read: Our experience at OH! Open House Joo Chiat)

I’m not going to share any pictures of the actual artwork because I don’t want to ruin your experience of the tour. But I do want to share some snapshots of charming Potong Pasir from the privileged access we got thanks to the tour.

Funnily enough, the parallel that I thought of while exploring Potong Pasir was the Langa township tour we did in Cape Town. Evidently the living conditions there are way worse, but it was that precious sense of community that stuck with me and the niggling feeling that this is something we’ve sacrificed and will find very hard to get back.

The subtle play of politics on the landscape, the persistence of the community spirit, the tension of choice between progress and nostalgia – this is Potong Pasir in a “state of constant transition”, and I can’t help but feel that the best time to see it is now.

Get Tickets

The OH! Open House Potong Pasir Tour runs for 2 more weekends (until March 27) so get your tickets here!

This article first appeared in ETSY Explores.