The COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests have triggered global conversations about various forms of injustice, inequities, and inequalities across the world. These conversations include discussions around colonial legacies and the need to address sites that celebrate and commemorate these colonial figures and slave traders.

Washing White critically looks through the lens of conserved buildings at colonial legacies in Singapore and the United Kingdom. In particular, four houses in London serve as starting points: Highwood House, Livingstone Cottage, 45 Berkeley Square, and Macartney House. These houses, which once belonged to former colonial masters, have been given statutory protection status. Each house also has a plaque commemorating the respective colonial official.

Using the framework of conservation principles common in Singapore and the UK – Maintenance, Repair, Restoration, Renewal, and Alteration – Washing White rethinks how we can approach conservation more ethically. Specifically, the work borrows performance theory and actions of performativity, theorised by Homi K. Bhaba, to propose ways towards ethical conservation.

The proposals for ethical actions take form in a book, which presents fragments of personal anecdotes, technical information, performance theories, and postcolonial literature. A durational performance of a day accompanies the text to further embody the proposals.