Murals
Serangoon’s Strata
By Danielle Tay
Material: Acrylic Paint
Location: Sommerville Road
Duration:
Collection: National Arts Council
Dimensions: 18.7m x 2.3m
Serangoon's Strata traces the layered history of the Serangoon neighbourhood along the winding Sungei Serangoon. Unfolding from left to right like a visual map of time, the work moves through four distinct eras, weaving historical narrative with a sense of carefree joy and childhood wonder. The composition begins with the Ranggong bird in the riverine swamps that gave Serangoon its name, moving through gambier, pineapple, and durian plantations whose legacy endures in the neighbourhood's street names today. The Serangoon River flows through each stratum as a unifying thread, reflecting its role as a vital economic waterway for well over a century. On the horizon, a distant steamship silhouette represents the global trade that connected local produce to the wider world; a homage to the maritime legacy of M.R. Sommerville, after whom Sommerville Road was named. Serangoon's Strata is a quiet tribute to the ecology, local enterprise, and enduring connections between nature, community, and commerce across generations
Location: Sommerville Road