Francis Ng | I Was Here

Francis Ng’s I Was Here is the travelling installation encountered at various spots across Singapore. The monumentality of the structure appears to engender an ambiguous ability to provoke questions of identity (I), presence (WAS) and place (HERE). Teasingly, it also engages the subtle urges of vanity of its passersby who seek to leave their footprints behind by merely observing the work or of those who choose to take away a piece of the space perhaps by taking a photograph with it.

For the fresh graduates of Commencement 2007, this installation provokes a nostalgic experience of intellectual becoming. It recalls memories which can range from disturbing tales of struggle to relieving sighs of success to realizations of indifference.

Therefore, if you do indeed take a photograph beside I Was Here — remember—it only records but it does not see, it endorses your presence at NUS but it does not reveal, it confirms the infinite possibilities of the future but it does not promise.

This is just the beginning.  

Remember, the world is your idea!