Balik Pulau, a celebration of Singapore’s Islands

While our new building and gallery are still in the works, some of our marine specimens can be seen in a new exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore entitled “Balik Pulau, Stories from Singapore’s Islands“.  Balik Pulau invites the visitor to come and experience Island Life past and present, through archival recordings, interviews with ex-islanders, and the marine biodiversity still present in our waters and shores.

From the National Museum of Singapore’s website:

“Singapore is not just one “sunny island, set in the sea”, but an archipelago of more than 70 islands. For centuries, these islands have been important landmarks for sailors, and also home to different communities who lived off their waters. After Singapore gained independence, however, the islands were transformed dramatically and nearly all their inhabitants resettled on the mainland.

This exhibition, Balik Pulau, is a return to the islands, in memory and spirit, to recover the stories of those who lived, worked and played there. With new video interviews, archival images, historic boats, personal mementoes and specimens of marine life, the exhibition charts the changes that have taken place and how a new generation is rediscovering our islands and forging new links to them. Come and explore Singapore’s offshore islands anew, and be inspired to even visit these places yourself.”

Admission is free, and the exhibition will run from now till 10 August, at the National Museum of Singapore.