HDB Corridor is part of the series, “Everything You Ever Wanted is Right Here” by Singaporean artist Dawn Ng. This series of hand-crafted, large scale photo collages presents a tongue-in-cheek look at present-day Singapore, highlighting its unique characteristics and traits; obsessions, insecurities and ambitions through the composition of text set against familiar, everyday landscapes.The title of the work, HDB Corridor, refers to the common walkway that residents living in the Housing Development Board (HDB) flats share across a floor level. A shared space that is accessed by everyone, the HDB corridor is a public space that is free for all to use, yet at the same time, guides and leads users to the doorsteps of the residents' private abodes. Singapore's public housing programme has been both the pride of the nation's achievements as well as a point of contention for Singaporeans, with an overwhelming majority of Singaporeans living in HDB flats. While HDB flats are continually built to meet the demands and needs of a growing population, the limited land space also means the necessity of creating taller flats that reach higher into the sky. With rising skylines come rising costs as the demand for good location flats in land-scarce Singapore pushes the flats' market prices to sometimes staggering amounts in the recent years. This phenomenon is demonstrated visually with Dawn Ng's choice of words, “Faster apply for your pie in the sky” emblazoned across a photograph of a HDB common corridor that leads to two separate residences. The use of local Singaporean linguistics in the term “faster apply” instead of the more accurate “quickly apply” is immediately recognised as a uniquely Singaporean trait, both in the words of the text as well as in the sense of urgency it conveys, which can be attributed to the Singaporean characteristic of being “kiasu”, or having the fear of losing out. This sense of urgency is contrasted with the seemingly calm and serene appearance of the HDB residence in the background of the work. The viewer is invited to think about the people who live in the residences in the photo and wonder if they had acted fast enough to secure their “pie in the sky”.In HDB Corridor, the anxiety of Singaporeans literally having to secure a roof over their heads is reflected clearly in the cut-out text that is juxtaposed against an iconic and recognisable feature of the Singaporean landscape. This visual documentation of the needs and aspirations of the country and the insecurities of its people is presented as social commentary and critical observation of the current state of a fast changing city-country.
