left: Ernest Goh, Pattern Lime Butterfly, caterpillar on leaves, Papilio demoleus malayanus
right: Ernest Goh, Pattern Green Chafer Beetle, Anomala albopilosa

Enter into a world of flora and fauna from 11 June to 19 July at Objectifs Gallery at Middle Road. Titled Breakfast at 8, Jungle at 9, photographer Ernest Goh showcases his latest works which utilise repetitive motifs from the natural environment to propagate his eco-utopian vision of the world. While, at first glance, a nod to scientific photography and the detailed study of specimens, Ernest encourages the viewer to appreciate these insects, butterflies, flowers and birds through a lens of wonderment and fascination.

The exhibition presents two of Ernest’s latest series and an interactive installation. The two series – The Gift Book and Breakfast at 8, Jungle at 9 – explore the different ways of viewing nature while the interactive installation titled Time to Wrap Up offers visitors a chance to recreate a “natural world” by applying the photo stickers of insects and animals that Ernest had created.

The show draws its title from a letter written by famed naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace spent eight years in the Malay Archipelago studying its flora and fauna, and collected more than 125,000 specimens of insects, birds and mammals including hundreds of new species.

“I will tell you how my day is now occupied. Get up at half past five. Bath and coffee. Sit down to arrange and put away my insects of the day before, and set them safe out to dry… Breakfast at eight. Out to the jungle at nine. We have to walk up a steep hill to get to it, and always arrive dripping with perspiration…”

The rigour of this daily schedule and the tropical jungle teeming with animal life resonated with Ernest, particularly with his own ongoing work photographing animals. He has photographed more than 1,000 individual animals, most recently shooting specimens archived by the recently launched Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.

Breakfast at 8, Jungle at 9 is the first exhibition at Objectifs’ new space at 155 Middle Road.

Ernest will be giving a talk on 20 June 2015, Saturday, 3pm to 4pm at the gallery.

Ernest Goh, Specimen Bird

Exhibition: Breakfast at 8, Jungle at 9
Dates: 11 June – 19 July 2015
Venue: Objectifs Gallery, 155 Middle Road, Singapore 188977
Hours: Tue – Fri 11am – 7pm, Sat 12pm – 6pm, Sun 12pm – 4pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, 20 June 2015, 3pm – 4pm