Our culture, heritage and traditions can be likened to an echo – they reverberate in all directions and practices come and go like sound waves. However, a sound alone does not create an echo; rather, what allows echoes to manifest is their environment. Similarly, culture cannot exist in a vacuum. It is people within a society that allow the culture to persist, or evolve, over time. The metaphor of an echo reminds us that our culture is in constant flux, never stagnant.

ARTWALK 2023 calls on audiences to envision the various ways our culture could grow from here. Despite its time away from the streets, the heart of ARTWALK as well as the cultures it celebrates has only evolved. With its resounding return to Little India and Katong-Joo Chiat, ARTWALK relooks at our cultural heritage, bringing these spaces and histories alive through the reflections and impressions of contemporary artists.

While echoes eventually fade out, culture never dies. Rather, it grows, evolves and takes new forms. Where an echo may fade into non-existence, the impact culture leaves is permanent.