Drifting Canopy 浮荫 (2026)

Drifting Canopy was developed during the Tropical Lab 20 Residency in Singapore, beginning with Liu’s encounters with the island’s monkeypod trees (Samanea saman), a species widely introduced and cultivated for shade. These trees became a point of departure for considering Singapore as a landscape continually shaped through migration, cultivation, urban planning and environmental intervention.

Suspended translucent 3D-printed fragments form an imagined canopy, while their projected shadows extend beyond the physical structure. Together, the canopy and its shadows trace the outline of Singapore, allowing the island to emerge through overlapping material and immaterial forms. The work reflects on how land, ecology and identity are produced through layered relations between biological life, human design and histories of movement.