This body of work is informed by my paternal family’s agricultural practices in the 20th century, as immigrants to Southern rural Malaysia (Peninsula).
A video combines audio excerpts from interviews with my family members alongside imagery collected over the last 5 years, a moving collage reflecting on wealth accumulated from foreign land. A second economy is engaged by making paper from plants sourced from my current geographic location in lutruwita Tasmania. These papers are imitative of Joss paper, which is burnt as offerings to ancestors in Chinese culture, and many others across Asia. Other forms of offerings are re-situatuated in the gallery to consider the indebtedness of settlement on foreign land through migration.
I would like to extend my respects to Elders of world Indigenous Communities. Including the First Nations communities of the Archipelagos that make up Malaysia (Orang Asli of the Peninsula and Orang Asal in Malay).
Sound Engineer: Bonnie Cummings
Thanks to Lauren Burrow, Rosie Isaac, Neika Lehman, Ben Richardson, Bonnie Cummings, Nunzio Madden, Grace Herbert, Polly Stanton and Kristen Sharp for their assistance with this project.
This exhibition is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship at RMIT University.