In Singapore, Sambar Deer have learnt, over the years, to use our existing network of road highways as a guide to cross from one broken forest to the other. As a result, Deer Highways, which facilitate high herd activity daily, run directly beneath our highways today.
Springleaf forest sits at the crossroads of Seletar Expressway and Mandai Road, and is parted from the wider network of Lower Pierce Reservoir.
A keystone of the forest lies at its fringes, where the Sambar herd come to graze on abundant Malayan Grass in the evenings.
In mid-April 2025, works for a new residential development began on two parcels along the forest fringe facing the highway. A total of 2.4 of the forest’s 30 Hectares were sealed away from the herd. The family of 6 deer, once a regular sighting, had not been spotted in the three weeks since.
To the herd of 40 there, Springleaf forest remained an important sanctuary where they raised their young, took shelter and found food.
Outside, Looking In peers into the unseeable – of invisible land use policies that exist outside the public imagination, into sky-high facades erected to fracture us from the forested animal societies.
Through the peripheral gaze, one looks into the guiding ethos of progress over all, reflecting the sacrifices that a land-starved nation inflicts by excavating soil for concrete.
In Singapore, Sambar Deer have learnt, over the years, to use our existing network of road highways as a guide to cross from one broken forest to the other. As a result, Deer Highways, which facilitate high herd activity daily, run directly beneath our highways today.
Springleaf forest sits at the crossroads of Seletar Expressway and Mandai Road, and is parted from the wider network of Lower Pierce Reservoir.
A keystone of the forest lies at its fringes, where the Sambar herd come to graze on abundant Malayan Grass in the evenings.
In mid-April 2025, works for a new residential development began on two parcels along the forest fringe facing the highway. A total of 2.4 of the forest’s 30 Hectares were sealed away from the herd. The family of 6 deer, once a regular sighting, had not been spotted in the three weeks since.
To the herd of 40 there, Springleaf forest remained an important sanctuary where they raised their young, took shelter and found food.
Outside, Looking In peers into the unseeable – of invisible land use policies that exist outside the public imagination, into sky-high facades erected to fracture us from the forested animal societies.
Through the peripheral gaze, one looks into the guiding ethos of progress over all, reflecting the sacrifices that a land-starved nation inflicts by excavating soil for concrete.
