榕葉冊 • Banyan Collection
榕葉冊 • Banyan Collection is a series of publications aimed at preserving the Singaporean Foochow culture, a dying community in Singapore. This is primarily done through micro-history, communal history and short stories of the community. These three ways are done in three publications, which together form the collection publication that preserves the Singaporean Foochow culture in Singapore.
The main piece of the collection is the recording of personal histories of various Foochow
people in Singapore, they are interviewed and their stories are then written down. This
micro-historical lens allows the audience to have a closer and deeper understanding of
Foochow communities in Singapore, from their community, migration, family, career and
languages. The second piece is a general recording of the Foochow culture that allows the audience a quick and broad understanding of the culture. The last piece focuses on the recording of nursery rhymes that are spoken entirely in the Foochow language. The last piece allows the audience a clearer understanding of the Foochow language, its unique vocabulary and pronunciation.
This information is then able to conclude and give the audience a summarized version of
the dying Singaporean Foochow Community. As a graphic designer, I believe I can use my
skillsets to preserve the language by creating easy-to-read reading materials that can encapsulate the language and culture for the time to come.
