Traces II developed from Hazel Lim’s reflections on Singapore’s continually reconstructed landscape and what might be lost through these processes of transformation. A visit to the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR) at the National University of Singapore prompted her to consider the erosion of natural and cultural histories, and the disappearance of the island’s once-rich flora and fauna. Drawing from the museum’s collection, Lim began exploring Singapore’s natural history as a way of tracing landscapes that have been altered, displaced or lost.

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She was particularly drawn to the museum’s taxidermised birds, whose vibrant colours appeared strangely at odds with their status as preserved specimens from another time. Using information recorded on their museum labels, Lim traced the locations where the birds had originally been found and imagined the landscapes associated with these sites.

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In the resulting paintings, the birds retain their vivid colours while the landscapes are rendered in muted grey tones, resembling photographic negatives or fading traces. This reversal creates an uncertainty between past and present: while the specimens belong to an earlier time, it is the contemporary landscape that appears ghostly and impermanent.

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By bringing these elements together, Traces II reflects on the transience of Singapore’s landscape and considers how natural histories persist through specimens, records and fragments of memory.

Developed during an Art Incubator Residency with Grey Projects, the project culminated in Traces II, curated by Charmaine Toh and presented at the Brother Joseph McNally Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, in 2010.