john clang: “I WAS 8 YEARS OLD AND MY BROTHER WAS 6 YEARS OLD. WE WERE PLAYING ON THE GROUND FLOOR OF BRAS BASAH COMPLEX, WHERE OUR AUNT LIVED. UNEXPECTEDLY A STRANGER APPROACHED, HELD MY BROTHER'S HAND AND STARTED WALKING AWAY. MY BROTHER TURNED AROUND, LOOKED AT ME HELPLESSLY WITH HIS LEFT HAND REACHING OUT TO ME, WHILE STILL WALKING WITH THE STRANGER. I FROZE, NOT KNOWING WHAT WAS HAPPENING OR WHAT TO DO. MY MUM WHO HAD JUST RETURNED FROM WORK, REACHED IMMEDIATELY BY YELLING AT THE STRANGER IN A FRANTIC, DESPERATE TONE. THE STRANGER LET GO OF MY BROTHER'S HAND AND RAN AWAY. TWO THINGS STUCK IN MY HEAD. I ALMOST LOST MY BROTHER AND I WASN'T THE CHOSEN ONE.”

being together: family and portraits - photographing with john clang. national museum of singapore, 23 jan - 26 may 2013.