Between 2006 and 2014, Chua Chye Teck continually revisited Punggol, a childhood haunt that has since been transformed by suburban waterfront developments. Paradise captures makeshift shelters he encountered along the shoreline of Punggol leading up to Pulau Serangoon (now known as Coney Island). Chua was struck by the air of honesty borne by these structures, made using spare building materials by fishermen and construction workers seeking respite from the sun. The loose assembly of their roofs suggested a functional, yet fragile, sense of place. These temporary sanctuaries act as interludes in the otherwise regulated tempo of building construction and smoothly flowing rhythm of land development in Singapore. While their makers are absent in the photographs, their presence is felt through the informal architecture as each photograph continually moves from impressionistic detail to abstraction and back again. Parts of this series were exhibited at the New Society for Visual Arts (nGbK) (Berlin, Germany, 2011), Institute of Contemporary Art (Singapore, 2014), Le Point Ephémère (Paris, France, 2015) and Jendela Gallery at the Esplanade (Singapore, 2018).
