While you’re joining the throngs of people lining up to see the National Museum’s latest megaexhibition the Quest for Immortality, don’t forget to drop by the other parts of the museum to see the other exhibitions taking place, such as the Image of a Landscape, or the novel Carrier Bags in Singapore from the 1950s to the 1980s. Victor shows us around some of the exhibits.

You might think it’s amazing that the museum would have an exhibition on something as mundane as carrier bags – but after looking at the breadth of carrier bags from 30 to 50 years ago, it’s quite evident that bags tell us more about ourselves that we think. Victor writes about how a humble mooncake bag was later recycled to carry livestock:

Never did I imagine that the humble bags which my late mother used to carry live chickens back from the market would one day make it to the museum as exhibits! As a kid, I always looked forward to seeing the brown paper bag that brought delicious mooncakes and little pastry piggies in plastic cages from the Queen Of The Mooncakes. After the festival was over, the bag would be recycled for carrying things… and sometimes, even a live chicken. It was amazing how well the bag fitted the chicken snugly like a glove so it could not flap its wings. It was as if the bag was tailor-made for the chicken. Only its head and neck would be exposed and its head would bob about, surveying the surroundings like a submarine periscope. The light brown colour of the paper bag matched well with the darker brown feathers of the chicken. And if the chicken soiled the bag, simply discard it (the bag not the chicken). If not, you could recycle the bag again.

You could say that they don’t make bags like they used to. Paper gave way to plastic, and now as we get more and more environmentally concious it has become fashionable to bring your own grocery bags for shopping* rather than to rely on the store. Who knows? In 50 years time we might see an exhibition on recyclable bags used in our time!

Read Victor’s review of THE BAG: Carrier bags in Singapore from the 1950s to the 1980s here. The exhibition is on at the National Museum until 18 April 2010.

* or, recycle the bags from your last trip. Yesterday.sg proudly supports recycling bags and bringing your own bags whenever you do your shopping!