These paintings, inspired by the distinctive features of early HDB apartments, with laundry hanging on bamboo poles drying in the sun, depict the density of urban dwellings in Singapore. Until recently, most government housing tenants dried their clothing on bamboo poles protruding from their windows. Hanging a pile of heavy wet clothing requires significant skill and strength, and they occasionally become loose and fall many floors to the bottom. When the tenants relocated to HDB flats, they carried with them the practice of hanging laundry on bamboo poles suspended outside their windows. Drying clothes on bamboo poles fastened to the block with holes bored out of the walls was a typical practice in the 1960s, as shown in the photo of Blk 48 Bukit Ho Swee (left). The block still stands today. Photo credit: Dolby Thx.