Data & Mapping
A selection of my data storytelling and mapping work, from data journalism to participatory exhibitions.
Munirah and Samira spray-painting the Play O’Clock board for the Don’t Play Play exhibition, behind Kontinentalist’s office in Bedok, Singapore
Thirsty, Tired, Wired
A data journalism piece unpacking the politics and impacts of the data centre boom across Singapore, Johor and Batam, for the Environmental Reporting Collective’s Dirty Data project
Role: I spearheaded the story’s dataset of around 200 data centres across Singapore, Johor and Batam, tracking each one’s location, operator, ownership, start year and capacity.
Team: Written by Nicole Lim. Research and data by Samira Hassan, Loh Pei Ying and Jerald Lim. Code by Siti Aishah. Design and illustration by Munirah Mansoor.
Cover illustration for Thirsty, Tired and Wired by Munirah Mansoor.
Air Pasang Surut
An elder sharing stories of home with Munirah at Hari Orang Pulau. Photo by Intan Krishanty.
A counter-mapping exhibition where islanders and mainlanders traced their histories and experiences with migration and displacement. Co-designed with Orang Laut Singapore for Hari Orang Pulau, 2025.
Participants marked their first and current homes on maps of Singapore, the Southern Islands, Riau and Johor, then responded to prompts on memory and left notes to their first homes. The exhibition also became a gathering point for elders, who shared stories of their communities’ crafts, livelihoods and cultural traditions.
Role: Working alongside my team and Orang Laut Singapore, I developed a community-centred methodology, co-creating everything from the research questions to how the data would be used.
Team: Samira Hassan, Munirah Mansoor, Griselda Gabriele and Nabilah Said, in collaboration with the Orang Laut Singapore team (Firdaus Sani, Elizabeth Tan and Hannah Bock)
Mapping Bedok
Community mapping at the Connecting Narratives for Change Festival, 2024. Photo by Common Ground.
Over the course of two years, we ran community mapping sessions with Bedok residents as part of Common Ground’s Connecting Narratives for Change Festival. We asked them about the places where they eat, play and live, and how those places shape their relationships to the neighbourhood. At the 2026 iteration, the work came together in a community exhibition of stories and a memory map of Bedok.
Role: I developed and ran the community mapping sessions, then built the exhibition and memory map from what residents shared
Team: Samira Hassan, Nabilah Said, Griselda Gabriele, Munirah Mansoor, Darrell Lian and Madeline See
Don’t play play
Play O’Clock, where adults and children used yarn to map how many hours a day they spend sleeping, working and playing. Playeum’s Everyday Creativity Festival at Common Ground, 2023.
An interactive data exhibition on the power of play, made with Playeum for their Everyday Creativity Festival in 2023.
Adults and children used yarn to track how much of their day went to rest, work and play. They also shared what play means to them using post-its and stickers, revealing how the things we count as play change with every age group.
Role: I led the research and production, co-designing the exhibition with the team around hands-on materials that children and adults could both use to participate
Team: Samira Hassan, Munirah Mansoor, Heleena Panicker, Bianchi Dy and Loh Pei Ying