In the heart of Singapore, nestled among wooded hills, Bukit Brown Cemetery lies quietly between the rush of the present and echoes of the past. A burial ground for more than 100,000 individuals, it remains — despite being divided by a modern highway — a place rich with cultural memory and historical weight.

“Voices of Bukit Brown” is a long-nurtured project launched in 2024 by the Singapore Heritage Society (SHS) and all things Bukit Brown (atBB), with support from the National Heritage Board (NHB). This project advocates for the conservation of Bukit Brown Cemetery through an outdoor memorial installation and a suite of outreach and educational programmes.

The project commissioned visual artist Sai (Chen Sai Hua Kuan) to design the outdoor memorial installation. Called Sounds of the Earth 「大地回声穹天有目」, the memorial installation features 81 above-ground artefacts that have been arranged to make up a uniquely designed soundscape. These above-ground artefacts were recovered from unclaimed graves, amongst the more than 4,000 overall graves which had been exhumed from Bukit Brown Cemetery in 2013–2014 to make way for the construction of Lornie Highway.

AN INVITATION

Voices of Bukit Brown is not an attempt to restore what was removed. Instead, it asks how we might commemorate with care.

Voices of Bukit Brown is a tribute and a reminder - that history is not merely inherited, but constantly rewritten by those who choose to tend to it. We invite you to explore, to listen, and to reflect. These artefacts may have once been unclaimed, but their stories are certainly not lost.