Familiarity in the Unfamiliar: The Cyclical Nature of Time

Abstract

The gentle sea breeze swept the locks of my hair from my eyes as I was greeted by the sight of an island off the coast of Singapore. The children on the ferry exclaimed jovially as their eyes gazed upon Pulau Ubin. As the ferry docked at berth, I looked out to see myself surrounded by hundreds of towering tropical trees. “Stop running lah!”, a voice thundered as a father called out to his rowdy children. He lunged forward to hold their hands, causing the children to furrow their eyebrows in displeasure. As I looked down to get a clearer glimpse of their faces, I noticed a family of grunting wild boars crossing the narrow and muddy pathway. Despite being very different at first glance, I chuckled at the uncanny similarities between both family units. As I began to make my way into the deeper parts of the island, my eyes were drawn towards a man seated by the side of a pavement. With a large wooden canvas propped upon a stand, he sat calmly with his eyes focused on his art. He appeared as though he was in a trance, completely and wholly transported into the world depicted on his canvas, a dimension mirroring the one around him, freezing the moment, immortalising it in time.