A woodcut looks beyond the tropical view雨林之外，木刻中的社会生活

See Cheen Tee’s Begging, made in 1954, brings poverty into view through the direct language of woodcut. His colour prints of dancers and Sentosa’s fishing village extend that attention to cultural life and everyday surroundings. The catalogue relates his practice to the influence of China’s modern woodcut movement in Singapore and Malaya.

The works span years of political and social change, but their subjects resist a single picturesque account of the region. Sentosa Island, dated 1966, records a fishing settlement before the island’s later development as a resort. Seen together, the prints preserve aspects of public life that can disappear from a landscape’s familiar contemporary image.

许振第1954年的《乞丐》，以木刻直接有力的语言把贫困带入观看。他的舞者与圣淘沙渔村套色木刻，又将目光延伸至文化生活与日常环境。图册联系中国新兴木刻运动在新马地区的影响，讨论其艺术实践的历史语境。

这些作品跨越社会与政治变化的年代，也使东南亚无法被一种如画的风景概括。1966年的《圣淘沙岛》，记录了岛屿成为现代度假胜地之前的渔村生活。将作品放在一起，可以看见那些容易从今天的熟悉景观中消失的公共记忆。