A new book, forthcoming November 2022

Photographer Steve Golden set off to find Singapore’s remaining heritage shops – family run businesses that are multi-generational and at least 35 years old. His search saw him exploring nearly every street in Singapore by foot, from the bustling center of Chinatown to the quiet heartland housing estates. After nearly a year of research, including interviews with local neighbors, shopkeepers, and heritage experts, he photographed over 70 shops and the families that have run them for generations.

The photographer often arrived unannounced, and used small street cameras with natural light in order to observe and document daily life. The result, Heritage Shops of Singapore, is a snapshot in time in the long and ever evolving history of one of the world’s most fast-changing cities; a lasting tribute to the shops, the merchants and the artisans.

This book contains 34 heritage shops, organized by geographic location, and spanning the many different trades that collectively contribute to the patchwork of Singapore’s cultural identify. The work also explores the themes of survival in the face of overwhelming and constant change, and why Singapore’s intangible cultural assets must be saved.

This book has been designed to be portable for those who wish to explore the neighborhoods themselves and find the shops. It will be available from bookstores from November 2022 and its published by Talisman Publishing. Steve shares a sneak peek into the book’s contents.

 

Haniffa Textiles

 

Guan Antique

 

Pek Sin Choon Tea Maker

 

Jothi Store & Flower Shop

 

Original Herb Shop

 

Originally from Maine, Steve Golden arrived in Japan in 1989 with $200 and the desire to travel in Asia. An academic publisher by day, he spent his free time travelling extensively with his camera, leading to regular published photographs and articles in The Japan Times in the 1990s. Seizing an opportunity with Lonely Planet in 2010, he left his day job to became a freelance photographer. Steve has been published widely in magazines, newspapers, online and on broadcast television. His books include Reflections of Tan Yeok Nee House (2015) and Faces of Yangon (2020). Recent exhibitions include Faces of Yangon at the Leica Gallery Singapore and Empty City with LASALLE College of the Arts’ Tropical Lab, and here at Love in the Time of COVID.