Masha Nyanna
In Spaces Between: The Starline Project
Mapping Motherhood: The Mama ArchiveMasha was born a creative—nurtured by her musical upbringing, it all naturally led her to creative expressions like short stories, visual art, and songwriting. With a background in Communication Design, she entered the DSF program with a clear objective: to seamlessly integrate her passion for the creative arts into a more meaningful career—bridging the gap between her desire for artistic expression and impact, and the realities of a corporate world.
Her educational journey, navigating the challenges of a single-parent household, has been a testament to her resilience, and demanding perseverance through financial and emotional hurdles, paired by the patience of her school leaders and peers. Each obstacle encountered has strengthened her resolve, building a foundation of purpose that anchors her next step. As such, she approaches every challenge today with an empathetic and optimistic drive, serving as an inspiring example of what can be achieved through unwavering belief in one's potential (and a litTLe bit of a helping hand).
An avid dreamer and go-getter, she stays busy on top of school by volunteering in youth work, pursuing her music career as a Singer-Songwriter, and enjoying Saizeriya with her partner on slower days. She stays focused as graduation draws closer, moving onto the next step of her journey at Kita as a Community Designer—working with the young people she’s been dreaming a future for, together.
In Spaces Between:
The Starline ProjectThis project began by questioning how that became the collective consensus—the assumption that all teens were figuring it out, and figuring it out well.
Adolescence is a critical stage of identity formation, yet for teenagers from disadvantaged homes, access to supportive networks is often constrained by limited mobility, financial restrictions, and family responsibilities. In the Hougang rental estate community, 9 months of fieldwork revealed a consistent pattern: teenagers remain physically present in neighbourhood spaces, but their social and emotional needs are rarely addressed.
In response, ‘The Starline Project’ reimagines the neighbourhood as a site for connection. Designed as a 2-Phase pen-pal programme, it begins by fostering a peer companionship through asynchronous letter exchanges—creating a low-pressure, reflective space for teenagers to express themselves and realise they are not alone. It then expands outward, guiding teens to engage with recognised supportive adults within their immediate community through facilitated, in-person interactions. Rather than positioning adolescents as passive recipients of care, the project invites them to actively shape their own networks of support—drawing connections between one another, and the people around them.
This exploration culminated in the activation of a familiar site within the neighbourhood: Uncle Raymond’s shop. Here, during a community walk event led and managed by the track’s students, residents and members of public alike were invited to retrace the project’s context, engage with the letters from a pair that participated in the programme and see the real Starline Mailbox, and participate in adapted programme activities that mirror both phases of the intervention.
By situating the exhibition within the neighbourhood itself, the work extends beyond representation into lived experience—prompting visitors to reconsider what community looks like, and who it is built for.
Ultimately, this project asks:
What if support didn’t have to be sought from far away?
What if it could begin right here - in the spaces between us?