Rebecca Shen
CAF awarded Rebecca Shen a grant for “Atlas Animalia,” a project that involves a series of critical, ethnographic maps that illustrate the past, present, and future of Singapore, specifically in regards to the evolution of urban wildlife. As Singapore incorporates more environmental restoration efforts into its city planning, many animals are beginning to return and thrive. Rebecca hopes to use the maps (all of which will be included on the project’s website) to highlight these successes, and inspire people to imagine the possibilities of a viable future for animals and nature, even in a highly urban setting. Rebecca is an aspiring landscape architect, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design, graduating in 2023. Rebecca was a visiting scholar in 2022 at VINE Sanctuary, where she conducted a study mapping the terrain to understand the non-human residents’ use of the multispecies shared space. You can read CAF’s interview with Rebecca on her time at VINE here. Rebecca lives in Massachusetts.
Since receiving the grant, Rebecca has continued to observe the urban–wildlife interface in Singapore, where she spent two weeks photographing animals in urban wildlife hotspots. Rebecca has selected twenty urban animal species to draw and map as part of “Atlas Animalia” and has started creating base maps. The project will be completed in mid-2024.