This aerial photograph shows the beginnings of land reclamation at Pulau Tekong, a training site for Singapore’s military. The landform captured in the image was shaped by a border dispute between Malaysia and Singapore in 2003, which resulted from Singapore’s reclamation plans encroaching on the Malaysian border. The dispute led to the removal of a piece of land from existing plans. Bas Princen’s view of Pulau Tekong alludes to Singapore’s strategies for survival based on a technologically and economically oriented urban model that defies physical limits.
The photograph is part of Princen’s Hinterland series, which depicts landscapes and infrastructure on Singapore’s periphery. Trained as a designer, Princen uses the camera as a tool to investigate spatial phenomena. His work blends elements together in images that collapse objects and contexts or create ambiguity between the natural and the artificial. He focuses primarily on buildings, landscapes, and infrastructure, often depicting humans’ impact on territories, whether through construction, demolition, or appropriation.