On 26 June, SOTA's IBCP Visual Arts students and Year 5 IBCP Theatre students presented their artworks and theatre performance at the SARBICA International Symposium Welcome Dinner. Titled "From Oral History Transcripts to Memory Boxes & Theatre", our students were tasked to get to know the life stories of four pioneer generation Singaporeans.

The nine Visual Arts students built eight memory boxes, each highlighting the personal story shared by the interviewees with the students. The students then created visual interpretations of aspects of these stories that they found compelling to showcase.

Meanwhile, the three Theatre students researched the social and cultural context, background and history of each interviewee in order to dramatise selected segments from each of the four life stories gleaned from the oral history transcripts and face-to-face meetings. The work has gone through a number of drafts and the final performance was a reflection of the students' impressions and each student's personal response to his/her interviewee's story.

We were heartened to see our students interact meaningfully with these pioneers and  learn about Singapore's history through their stories. Thank you National Archives of Singapore for this unique and memorable opportunity!

Visual Arts students
Claire Lim Jia Yi
Goh Pei Xuan, Jomel
Hing Hui Sin Madeline
Justina Leow
Lim Yu Jun Caitlyn
Nadra Ahmad
Olivia Fones Su Yin
Peerada Liewchanpatana
Vanessa Liem Xi Qian

Teachers
Mr Ryf Zaini
Mr Vincent Leow

Theatre students
Arielle Jasmine Van Zuijlen
Clarissa Liaw Sin Yee
Phone Myat San

Teachers
Ms Elvira Holmberg

The Oral History Centre, National Archives of Singapore
Interviewees
CPT Ho Weng Toh
Dr Uma Rajan
Madam Sumitera Mohd Letak
Mr Vernon Cornelius

This project was held in partnership with the National Archives of Singapore.