Seletar salute

Lee Xin Li is an illustrator working at DP Architects. He began illustrating in 2013, when he was still an architecture student. He finds inspiration in the culture, the history, his childhood and his experience of growing up in Singapore.

Some of his works include "A Walk in the Garden", a compilation of trees in Singapore, and "Sayang Singapura", a compilation of the lost and changing landscapes in Singapore. He has also been commissioned to do illustrations for the Singapore Tourism Board and the Republic of Singapore Navy.

In this illustration, Mr Lee revisits the Seletar area. His first fond memory of the place was when he was still serving his National Service and did river-crossing training at the old camp. The colonial structures such as Blk 179 and the countryside-like estate left an impression on him. He revisited Seletar after NS and found a strikingly different Seletar with each subsequent visit.

Although most of the old camp that Mr Lee remembered from his NS days was gone by 2017, a few sites still provide a slice of the old Seletar, such as Canteen 398 and the remaining Blk 179.

The area also maintains its association with aviation back in its RAF Seletar days when Spitfire and Short Sunderland used to fly in and out of Seletar.

For Mr Lee, the aviation heritage and its continued ties to it in the form of the Singapore Youth Flying Club and Seletar Airport are also some of the timeless characteristics of Seletar which still draw him to return.