Yip Pin Xiu’s Gold Medal from the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games

Singaporean swimmer Yip Pin Xiu won the country’s first ever Paralympics gold at the 2008 Games held at Beijing. Yip, who has been wheelchair bound since age 13 from hereditary sensory-motor neuropathy, has since become a five-time Paralympics champion, and currently holds the world record in two events. Gold, 2008.

Photograph from The Long Road Home series

Domestic worker Sugiyani Waryomiharjo with her daughter, Rola, at home in her village in Indonesia. Many domestic workers in Singapore are mothers hoping to provide a better life for their children. It is ironic then, that their work takes them away from their families, with their own children growing apart from them and sometimes even facing neglect while they care for their employers’ children. Photographed by Sim Chi Yin, 2007.

Chinese navigational compass

Compasses such as this, with 24 directions for astronomical and terrestrial navigation, were commonly used by Chinese sailors from the late 11th to early 12th centuries onwards, although the Chinese admiral Zheng He (郑和), who sailed in the 14th century, preferred more advanced compasses with 48 cardinal points. Wood, brass and glass, 19th century.

Katib Celebi’s map of Sumatra

This map was part of Kitab Cihannuma (Book of the View of the World) by the 17th-century Ottoman scholar Katib Celebi. Published by Ibrahim Muteferrika in 1732. Hand-coloured engraving on paper.

Skyline of Singapore in 1976

This panoramic painting of the Singapore skyline by artist Lai Kui Fang emphasises with rich and vibrant detail how the city centre has grown in density and height within the nation’s first decade of independence. Oil on canvas, 1977.

View of Boat Quay and Singapore River from Government Hill (now Fort Canning Hill)

This daguerreotype by Alphonse-Eugène-Jules Itier is one of the earliest surviving photographs of Singapore and Asia, showing a view of the commercial centre of Boat Quay from Fort Canning Hill. Daguerreotype, 1844.