Liquid Sands
In Liquid Sands, Hannah O’Flynn examines the colonial structures embedded in land reclamation projects in both the Netherlands and Singapore.
The film tells the story of lines—both imagined and real—drawn across water: lines that promise, exclude, and continually push boundaries outward. O’Flynn reveals how land reclamation stems from the colonial notion of ‘terra incognita,’ (unknown land) where territories were declared empty to justify occupation. Liquid Sands unravels how these vast engineering endeavors depend on labor exploitation, human displacement, and heroic national narratives, all while causing significant environmental degradation. By showing how nations literally extend their borders by importing “empty” land from elsewhere, O’Flynn exposes the deep entanglement of colonial history with contemporary practices.
