Sim Jia En is a fine artist that is curious about a wide variety of mediums. Her playful approach opens the possibility to work with many unconventional materials like plants, fabric and the community. Her primary interest revolves around the study of time, space and the ephemerality of life. Adopting diverse methods to examine her work as she embarks on the journey to finding connections in the way of living through the everyday.Her work is called What is your dream? 您的梦想是什么？Apa impian anda? Singapore has developed exponentially in the past 55 years after independence. A majority of the older generation, aged 55 years and above, has gone through a tough transition from being inhabitants of a relatively rural environment to the globalised metropolis that Singapore is today.Many of the senior generations did not have the leisure of choice: the choice of doing what they love for a living. For survival, many were forced to do any work that could help feed the family, even from a young age. Their only focus was to be pragmatic and responsive to their immediate circumstances. As such, any private time and space they might have desired or needed to contemplate their own choices was a luxury they could not afford.After years and years of working throughout their adolescence to meet the demands of their reality, many of them have settled into a livelihood that might not be of their own choosing. For some of them, they have unknowingly surrendered their personal interests, passion, or ambitions to circumstances in life. Having thrived for so long without their aspirations, they have forgotten to retrieve them…The unexpected COVID-19 situation has forced virtually everybody all over the world to hit pause on their ways of living. It seems like a restart button for people to personally and collectively relook at whatever they have become used to. It has been an extended opportunity for people to rethink what kind of life they want to live. But, is it too late to create a new starting point now? Is there something you want to do but have yet to? Is it too late to dream?

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IG: @seewithjia