Family is often defined as a basic social unit, in which a group of people is living together and is related to each other by the ties of marriage and the bonds of blood. Family is also defined as a place where we, as human beings, seek shelter and comfort.
In the photographs taken by John Clang, which was displayed in the National Museum of Singapore’s Being Together exhibition, portray what it means to be a family both in the past as well as in the present. One of the similarities between the photographs of the past and of the present is they both reflects the idea of being one unit and the idea of togetherness.
In the past, ranging from the 1870s to the 1970s, photographic portraits consisted mainly of images of royalties, of affluent local families and that of European traders and their families. Often times, these photographic portraits (see Exhibit 1) are commissioned to reflect the wealth, lineage, and the status of privileged class and to document the colonial conquest. However, in the late 1970s, casual snapshots became increasingly popular with the ubiquity of handheld cameras.
In addition to that, families in photographs (see Exhibit 2) of the past often portray a big family. This perhaps is due to the style of living in the past. In times of ancient past, families often stayed in small villages. Nuclear and extended families often times lived in the same house (long houses they are called, according to my grandmother). This is, in part, reflected in the village in which my grandmother lived in long ago. Although there are some families who do not reside with each other, they lived in different houses but in extremely close proximity of their family members.
Moreover, people in the past often try to have a good number of children with the mentality that their children will look after them. Also, they needed manpower to work on their farms.