Esplanade Presents | The StudiosOne Day We’ll Understand 有那么一天 by Sim Chi Yin (Singapore)An Esplanade CommissionProduced by CultureLink SingaporeIn partnership with Chamber Made (Australia)

30 Aug 2024 (Fri) - 01 Sep 2024 (Sun)

Theatre

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“Stories of forced migration, of conflicts caused by geopolitical interests, and families being swept up in forces beyond their control have been with us for generations. They are also stories of our time. Through reckoning with our pasts we are better equipped to understand our present, and to create the kind of future we would hope for the generations to come.”Tamara Saulwick (Director)
“…Under-histories, counter-narratives, the previously silenced narratives must be heard and seen. And, as Sim’s poetic craftwork offers, the assimilation of past horrors also begs for the courage of imagination.” Cora Fisher, Curator, Curator and Essayist
This new multimedia performance explores memory, inheritance and the family history of visual artist Sim Chi Yin against the setting of the Malayan Emergency.

Part documentary and part a speculative look at how we might deal with the past, One Day We’ll Understand excavates hidden histories, Chinese diasporic experiences and the long legacies of colonialism. Through the lens of Sim’s life and camera, we time-travel into her family archive, recovering traces left in the wake of the anti-colonial war in British Malaya and beyond.

Drawing on Sim’s large body of evocative photographic and filmic work, probing questions both personal and universal, One Day We’ll Understand transcends the autobiographical to a larger canvas that speaks to memory, loss, trauma, restitution and repair.

Led by a Singaporean-Australian creative team, One Day We'll Understand combines haunting imagery with narration, archival footage, and a driving live score by percussionist Cheryl Ong, giving voice to Sim’s multiple personas as artist, historian, writer, mother and granddaughter, opening up ways to think about our pasts and futures.

Concept / Performer Sim Chi Yin
Sound / Performer Cheryl Ong
Director Tamara Saulwick
Dramaturg Kok Heng Leun
Video Artist Nick Roux
Lighting Design Andy Lim
Technical Manager Yap Seok Hui
Executive Producer Goh Ching Lee

One Day We’ll Understand is partially supported by Ho Bee Foundation.

More about One Day We’ll Understand
Running through One Day We’ll Understand is the story of Sim’s grandfather. Uprooted from his life in Perak, Malaya — where he had been an educator and newspaper editor — for his leftist sympathies, the British colonial government had deported him to China, where he fought and died in the Chinese civil war just weeks before the Communist victory.

While his ancestral village in China memorialised him with a monument, his memory was totally erased and hidden by his family in Malaya.

Sim uncovers the silences behind the grandfather’s story which her family tried to forget, tracking down his relatives and compatriots to document their memories before the whole generation passes on.

She contemplates what of those pasts she passes on to her child, and how the memory and legacies of war and colonialism affects our world today.

Tickets & Prices

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 - Sun, 1 Sep 2024

Fri - Sat: 8pm
Sun: 3pm

T&Cs

Admission Rules of Esplanade:
Rating/Age Limit
- Admission is subject to tickets produced at the entrance.
- Infants in arms or children below the age of 6 shall not be admitted.
- Children aged 6 years and above must purchase ticket for admission.
- Recommended for ages 12 and above.
- Contains imagery of war and image flashes.

Late Admission Advisory
- You are strongly advised to arrive before the performance start time.
- Latecomers will be admitted at suitable intervals.
- Exceptions may be made at Esplanade's discretion depending on the nature of the performance.

Photography/Video Recording Rules
- No unauthorised photography, video and audio recording is allowed for this event.
- Please note that photographs and videos of patrons may be taken at this event for use in our archival and publicity material.

Help Us Keep Everyone Safe
- Strictly no food & beverage allowed in the performance venues.
- Stay at home if you're unwell.