Jaclynn Seah is a Singaporean girl and an occasional traveller. She loves exploring less popular cities off the tourist map and hunting for street art.
VoiceMap: Do you see potential for apps and other new technology to engage new audiences in Singapore’s street art?
Jaclynn: Singapore’s street art scene is relatively small and unknown – it’s not what you think of at all when you think about visiting Singapore! But visitors are starting to look beyond our typical tourist attractions, and for the independent traveller who likes discovering new things, apps and new technology like VoiceMap are a perfect fit as they allow users the freedom of choice and self discovery in their travels. This is especially important around the arts, which is a pretty subjective topic and different people engage with it in such varied ways.
VoiceMap: Were you surprised by how starting out with a map influenced the stories you ended up telling?
Jaclynn: I’ve walked the Kampong Glam area a lot, searching out street art pieces, but having to plot it out on a map and figure out the best path for a person to take helped give shape to my thoughts and what story I was trying to tell – it was a combination of planning a comfortable route, yet talking about street art in a coherent and succinct way, and took more work than I thought it would!
VoiceMap: As a storyteller, what do you gain by knowing exactly where your audience is at any given moment?
Jaclynn: It might be my obsessive side speaking, but I really like being able to pinpoint exact locations of stuff onto a map and then have someone else be able to navigate it easily – a sense of satisfaction that my attention to detail and the care I took has paid off. Knowing the exact location of your audience also lets you tell stories that resonate more, as you can make reference to specific visual and audio cues in the area.
VoiceMap: What did you enjoy most about creating this audio walk?
Jaclynn: The best part was walking the route multiple times, because it’s a simple excuse to look at more street art!
View and purchase Jaclynn’s audio walking tour of Singapore’s street art here.