Zac Tan
Using cameras as his chosen instrument, Zac is a visual storyteller that composes both still and moving images to translate words into visuals, and visuals into emotions.
On: Digital Divide
So Near Yet So Far is a short film created to raise awareness of the digital divide, also what I deem as the true pandemic that is plaguing the world today. As technology advances, people are getting even more reliant on their mobile devices and social media. Using a taxi cab as the representation of the new life post-digital age, this short film illustrates isolation and segregation as a result of compulsive usage of mobile devices. Every single passenger in this film tells their own story, with the last one bringing about a unique twist to the plot. In this new age, you can’t really tell between family and strangers anymore.
The creative process of this project has been presented in the form of a newspaper, highlighting the emergence of the true pandemic — mobile devices and social isolation.
On: Social Divide
From Another Land is a body of work that reflects largely on the notion of social divide within Singapore.
Being a first-world country, there are bound to be hierarchical differences between each level of social class. In this body of work, I draw my attention to the Migrant Workers in Singapore whom Singaporeans usually refer to as ‘Ah Neh’; dark skinned workers that originated from Bangladesh or India. These workers usually leave their hometown just before they turn 20 years old, and the motivation for their departure would usually be for the well-being of their family. As the sole-breadwinner of a family of 6-10, these workers usually works 7 days a week, earning no more than $800 a month. Even though they have made great sacrifices for their family, they are still largely frowned upon by some Singaporeans due to stigmas that surrounds them; smelly, unhygienic, dangerous, uneducated.
As humans are usually fearful of the unknown, the agenda of this project is to talk about the ‘unknowns’, to redesign the ways Singaporeans look at the Migrant Workers; the same group of people that built Singapore from ground up with their bare hands. To do that, two documentary films and one series of photograph (Photographed by a Migrant Worker, Mynul Islam) has been put together to paint a clearer picture of the life and sacrifices that are made by these group of people.
On: Time
In The Brink Of Death is a project that looks at time from a new perspective. Time has always been seen in the context of humans, and this series of work aims to bring an alternative contemplation to light; what if humans are not the only time abiders? As I turn my attention to the insentient tangible objects that surrounds us, I start to realise that like us, these objects stands the test of time. From the birth of a product, to the inevitable scarring that it goes through, to a point where it malfunctions before reaching the end of it’s life cycle; these objects reflects the cyclical cycle of life that we go through.
This documentary project also seeks to showcase the value, or lack thereof, of these objects once its time is up.
