FIRST DRAFT
inaugural edition
WHERE
Objectifs,
Centre For Photography and Film
WHAT
THEBOOKSHOW presents First Draft, a curated exhibition featuring new works by 8 nominated Singaporean artists / photographers that will be held at Objectifs, Centre of Photography, on 29th Mar — 9th Apr 2017. First Draft is the place and time to figure out what a story needs to become. It’s a place to make mistakes, to try out ideas, to explore variations on existing ideas. Sometimes a rough sketch, other times a culmination of a dream, First Draft becomes a place to break things, and move on knowing they're broken, until we discover the way to fix what broke.
8 Singaporean artists — Sara Ho, Liu Ying, Marvin Tang, Sam Kang Li, Shyue Woon, Jovian Lim, George Wong and Lyn Low will be showcasing photobooks accompanied by a selection of photographic prints. These artists were chosen by 8 nominators whom THEBOOKSHOW believes represent the core of Singapore’s Art and Photography scene. Our nominators: Ang Song Nian, Emmeline Yong, Gwen Lee, John Clang, Kevin WY Lee, Pann Lim, Robert Zhao Renhui and THEBOOKSHOW.
Through this exhibition, we believe that our audience would have greater insight to how the book medium could help artists translate their projects into a format that is accessible to the masses. At the same time, supporting young and upcoming artists / photographers in the book creation process and in receiving an opportunity to gain exposure in the Singapore Art industry.
​
​
Exhibition
WHEN
29 — 9 Apr 2017
 |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |
Winner of
First Draft Award
Our heartiest congratulations to Shyue Woon @parameters for winning the inaugural THEBOOKSHOW's First Draft Award! His book - Dark Cities, emerged as the winning work among other new works by selected artists and photographers.
Nominated by @kevinwylee from the Invisible Photographer Asia, Shyue Woon's book will be realised with the award of SGD$5000 worth of printing sponsorship, generously contributed by MoPress!
​
Programmes
Programmes held during the weekends concurrent with the length of the exhibition period.
Hong Kong Photobook Exchange X Invisible Photographers Asia
/ APR 1 — 2
As part of First Draft programming, Invisible Photographers Asia (IPA) has invited 3 photographers from Hong Kong — Chan Dick, Paul Yeung, Doreen Chan — to hold a weekend long exhibition alongside the First Draft exhibition. This exhibition will run across Sat, 1 Apr | 12pm to 7pm and Sun, 2 Apr | 12pm to 4 pm.
On top of this programme, there will also be additional talks hosted by IPA and the Hong Kong Artists during the following days:
​
APR 1, Saturday
3pm — 5pm
/ HK/SG Photobook Exchange - Artist Talk: Paul Yeung, Doreen Chan, Chan Dick
6pm — 7.30pm
/ Slideshow Night: Hong Kong Photography
​
APR 2, Sunday
3pm — 4.30pm
/ Making The Photobook: Forum with HK & SG photographers
Content & Inspiration
Design and Production
Publishing and Distribution
Artist Talks
/ APR 8 — 9
A series of artists talks will be held by the artists in the First Draft exhibition.
APR 8, Saturday
2.30pm — 4pm
/ Liu Ying, Sara Ho, Lyn Low, George Wong
APR 9, Sunday
2.30pm — 4pm
/ Jovian Lim, Marvin Tang, Sam Kang Li, Shyue Woon
the
NOMINEES
George Wong
Lyn Low
Jovian Lim
Liu Ying
Sara Ho
Sam Kang Li
Marvin Tang
Shyue Woon
from top left
GEORGE WONG / nominated by Robert Zhao
George Wong Yung Choon (b. 1978, Singapore) likes to laugh at himself and examines his existence as a Singaporean photo artist living in today’s day and age. He is also interested in the marriage of cultures and traditions he sees and experiences.
In 2015, he produced a dummy book of selfie images he made in North Korea. His work has been exhibited in Singapore, Malaysia and Ireland. He exhibited his piece “Blink” at the Singapore Art Exhibition in 2009. http://www.pursuephotography.com
LYN LOW / nominated by THEBOOKSHOW
Influenced by her personal experiences, visual artist Lyn Low (b. 1992, Singapore) approaches her concepts with sentiment, using photography as a means of inquiry into the human condition.
A recent graduate of Nanyang Technological University, Lyn Low was awarded the prestigious Kwek Leng Joo Prize of Excellence in Photography in 2015. Her latest exhibitions include Immeasurable, at the Bangkok University Gallery (Thailand), Undescribed, at DECK (Singapore), the Noise Festival Exhibition (Singapore) and the Pingyao International Photography Festival (China). http://lynlow.com
JOVIAN LIM / nominated by Pann Lim
Jovian Lim b.1984 grew up in Singapore. He has a BFA in Photography from the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University. He derives great pleasure in reframing approaches to photography through abstraction and capturing everyday phenomena in our environment.
Jovian’s photography hovers between realism and romance. Towing the line between the simple and sublime. Using commonplace material, he investigates ever more rarefied forms of expression, attempting to express that which is immutable, stripped of time, space and particularity. http://jovianlim.com
LIU YING/ nominated by Emmeline Yong
Liu Ying graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) degree in Photography and Digital Imaging from School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University in 2015. She believes that a photograph can and should provoke introspection in both the photographer and the viewer. And thus, with her keen interest in the human condition, Liu Ying contemplates the sights and stories around her through photography.
Her works have been exhibited at Asian Women Photographers’ Showcase (2015), Goodman Arts Centre (2015), Pingyao International Photography Festival, China (2014) and Singapore Art Museum under Noise Singapore The Apprenticeship Programme (2013). http://liuying.me/
SARA HO / nominated by Ang Song Nian
Sara Ho Shi Ning (b.1991, Singapore) is a visual artist that uses photography together with her background in graphic design to express herself in her work. As a collector of knick-knacks and random paraphernalia, she enjoys how objects are able to house a world of narratives. She expresses herself through quirky aesthetics and colour to visually convey stories of the heart.
SAM KANG LI / nominated by John Clang
Kang Li (b.1984) is a Singaporean Chinese, born to parents who migrated from Malaysia. His photography pursuits began with a journalism stint in Nepal, where he covered the nation's abolishment of its monarchy and the rise of the Maoists into parliamentary powers. Later, he returned to college, from where he graduated as top journalism student and class valedictorian in 2009. He has since departed from full-time photojournalism and is now a commercial film director. Photography remains an important language for him. www.samkangliphotos.com
MARVIN TANG / nominated by Gwen Lee
Marvin Tang (b.1989) is a visual artist who uses photography as a tool of investigation.
He is interested in the parallels between space and human interactions. Crafting images that he hopes will create new narratives in everyday spaces. http://www.marvintang.co/
SHYUE WOON / nominated by Kevin WY Lee
Shyue Woon is trained as an architect and interested in the intertwining of built environment with different disciplines in art. During the day, he uses architecture to turn aspiration and dreams into constructible reality. By night, the camera becomes his tool to deconstruct and reverse reality and spaces into fiction and dreams. His work previously been exhibited in Odessa (Ukraine), Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore; his works were selected for +50, a collective for Singapore's Photographers; and to be part of “Thank you, Mr Lee” (2015), a book tribute to late LKY. http://shyuewoon.com