Jalan Raya

by Kebaya Societe, Dapiku Sweets, Zarina Muhammad, Irfan Kasban & HAFI 

This opening performance warmly invites guests into the gathering space, the rumah (home), the pendopo (gazebo), the ruang tamu (living room), the taman dapur (garden kitchen), the kebun bunga (garden) where living traditions, sweets, confections, songs on separation, longing, kinship and encounters of delight and renewal meet and interweave.  

Kebaya Societe is an online Instagram platform which aims to expand the vocabulary and varied fashions of the Malay-Indonesian world. Their collection ranges from the 1890s to the 1980s. Their aim is to ignite curiosity, interest and passion about culture and heritage through fashion. Working closely with the community, they’ve collected and documented the narratives of wearers and makers of fashion from those time period. The collectors and duo behind kebaya.societe is fashion creator Sufiyanto and fashion brand consultant Muhammad Afiq Juana. 

Kebaya.Societe will be showcasing five outfits from the 1950s and 1960s from their private collection for this exhibition/presentation. 

Dapiku Sweets is the brainchild of two individuals driven by their shared passion for sweets, illustrations, and a desire to carve out a unique niche in Singapore’s confectionery scene. What began as a casual endeavour, where the duo whimsically shared confections and artwork, gained momentum during the pandemic . As demand for their sweets grew, Dapiku Sweets realised the potential to turn their passion into a more serious venture. 

The name Dapiku is a reflection of their quirky personalities and embrace of life’s eccentricities. They wanted something that would elicit a playful grin at the mere thought of it. Thus, after a sprinkle of mischievous creativity, Dapiku Sweets was born. 

Irfan Kasban is a transdisciplinary artist who writes, directs, performs, and designs, as a way to create intricate universes to honour space and time. His curiosities have led him to work in various mediums across many different genres by engaging with numerous talented collaborators. In 2020, Irfan was conferred the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council, Singapore. His current area of interest and research is performance as ritual healing. 

HAFI is an illustrator, designer and visual artist. She makes visual interpretations through drawings that are rooted in ancestral memories. Her works dissect themes of identity and cultural narratives via image making. HAFI is currently based in Singapore.  

Zarina Muhammad is an artist, educator and researcher whose practice is deeply entwined with a critical re-examination of oral histories, ethnographic literature and other historiographic accounts about Southeast Asia. Working at the intersections of installation, moving image, sound, photography, text and performance, Zarina’s practice has been interested in the broader contexts of ecocultural identities and interactions, indigenous ontologies and the cultural translations within myth-making to seek out a more-than-human multidimensional understanding of our place in the world.  

by Wild Dot 

Sharing good (and delicious!) things has always been an integral and memorable part of Hari Raya. Shirin Rafie from Wild Dot will be bringing some of her favourite plants that gift edible colour to paint well-wishing cookies to share this festive mood with others! This session will take inspiration from the book The Food of Singapore Malays by Khir Johari, with a particular focus on the ubiquitous and quintessential ingredients of Malay confections.  

Wild Dot is a natural art studio from Singapore started by Shirin Rafie and Liz Liu, who hold backgrounds in illustration and ecology respectively. Through their combined interests, they specialise in artmaking with found pigments and fibres abundant in the spaces they work with, and also sharing their findings through designing playful experiences for other people. Their shared intention is to observe how (art)making can be an accessible way for more people to learn about the plants growing around them, and also deconstructing the material of the everyday object, ultimately working towards reducing their own reliance on mass-commercialised making tools and materials. 

by Rosmainy Buang, Zachary Chan & Zarina Muhammad 

The wandering glider wanders without hope of rest. They cross transoceanic distances so vast, rarely stopping, preferring moist winds, flying without any hope of return. In spite of their ability to fly backwards, they will not look back towards where they set off. They rely on descendants who inherit tricks and deep memoryscapes on navigation to continue crossing earth, land, sky and sea to complete the migratory cycle. 
– The Tiger

To Wander Without Any Hope Of Rest is an invitation to move with, listen and tune our senses to other-than-human worlds, to peculiar habitats and the temporal rhythms of winds and tides. In listening across species, in quietening down and tuning in, this roving performance unfolds in two parts as we reflect on acts of remembering of lost coasts, waterways and river paths, of stories of trees and the earth that holds them. What restful places do we offer ourselves and others? What patterns of movement might we witness within ourselves and what is animated when we situate ourselves in places that asks for your whole body to listen? 

Rosemainy Buang is a gamelan musician, educator, composer, and sound artist from Singapore. With a decade of training in gamelan, she is dedicated to expanding her creative horizons through collaborative projects with other artists from diverse disciplines. 

Approaching artmaking with a multidisciplinary and experimental attitude, she attempts to question, build upon and expand the limits of traditional soundscapes, philosophies and aesthetics. 

Zachary Chan is a graphic designer, gamelan musician, sound designer, composer and visual artist. He co-founded the design studio CROP with an aim to work with artists and cultural institutions. His artistic practice is rooted in collaboration, and he regularly presents work together with The Migrant Ecologies Projects, Zarina Muhammad and Joel Tan, Rosemainy Buang and gamelan ensemble Singa Nglaras. He currently lives and works in Singapore. 

Zarina Muhammad is an artist, educator and researcher whose practice is deeply entwined with a critical re-examination of oral histories, ethnographic literature and other historiographic accounts about Southeast Asia. Working at the intersections of installation, moving image, sound, photography, text and performance, Zarina’s practice has been interested in the broader contexts of ecocultural identities and interactions, indigenous ontologies and the cultural translations within myth-making to seek out a more-than-human multidimensional understanding of our place in the world.  

by Fajrina Razak 

The batik tulis workshop is an excavation and mapping of memories as ways of healing and forgiveness and resisting forgetting to reconcile with oneself and the other (both human and non-human). Fajrina Razak will facilitate the participants using personal/collective memories as points of departure, weaving bodies of words. 

The participants will then, be able to wax-resist their words in a language that they desire, onto textile using the tjanting tool as wax-resist applicant, emboldening the notions of using body surfaces as forms of resistance. The workshop attempts to provide a space for the participants to create a textual-visual artwork inspired by the inquiries formed during the session, in its aim to channel remembering as a cartography of feelings, flooding new river tributaries. 

Disclaimer: Documentation of the workshop and final outcome may be displayed in future exhibitions as new iterations. 

Fajrina Razak is a visual artist, cultural worker, curator and educator. As a visual artist, her work takes on an analysis-approach practice, using traditional materials and contemporary mediums as conduits for the archival of knowledge and by extension, forming inquiries on historical references related to Nusantara and Southeast Asia. These are entwined with an ongoing interest in issues centred around the dichotomies of ‘secularity and spirituality’ and ‘individuality and collectivity’. Working primarily with batik, her works are also translated across mediums such as image-making, installation and text-based art. 

Her notable projects include hosting a residency programme 405 Art Residency (2020-23) and a curatorial project Between the Living and the Archive (2021). Her works are in the permanent collection of the Singapore Art Museum and private collections. She was the President of Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya (APAD, Association of Artists of Various Resources) for the term 2020–22. In 2023, she was the artist-in-residence of Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Philippines. 

by Sarah Noorhimli  

Ketupat Party is a workshop inviting participants to learn and relearn how to menganyam ketupat (weave the ketupat). This workshop serves as an experiment to recall the act of weaving in the absence of guidance. Through the embrace of trials and failures that exist in the passing down of intergenerational knowledge, this workshop seeks to confront the notions of being a ‘fake Malay’ or a ‘real Malay’. This phenomenon of an uprooted displacement from cultural roots is predominantly experienced by a generation well-acquainted with detachment and isolation. The artist thus poses the question, “How do we bridge this gap when living examples of embodied their culture have departed from us?” 

Like lost children grasping at straws in an attempt to reconnect, the artist provides a space to contemplate on what gets lost intergenerationally and navigates a possibility of reconciliation at this juncture. Seated communally on the traditional tikar, this intimate gathering requires participants to show up in their baju butterfly in order to participate. 

Sarah Noorhimli has built a body of work that attests to the temporality of the human body in an environment of rapid urbanisation. She sifts through her personal image archives and appropriates cultural references to conceive a hybrid form of speculative nostalgia–a sentimental dreamscape that emanates feelings of familiarity and discomfort. Recently, Sarah has shifted her focus to the materiality of the body in its form and existence. She interrogates the manifestation of an artwork through her bodily presence, prioritising human connection over physical production. 

Sarah is currently pursuing her degree in Fine Arts from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. She has exhibited and curated under her institution and was recently nominated for the International Takifuji Art Award in 2022. She was awarded the Zubir Said Arts Scholarship three times between the years 2020–23, recognising her strong artistic ability and commitment to contributing back to the community. 

by Jamil Schulze 

In this movement workshop, participants will experience the power of imagery to evoke and influence one’s behaviour, physicality, and imaginative life. They will explore freeform movement and dance, connecting body, mind and imagination as they navigate through the imagery of the four elements: tanah (earth), air (water), api (fire) and angin (air).  Gradually, archetypal masks are introduced, each with distinct characteristics and qualities. 

While the masks are hand-carved by Balinese master craftsmen, they are not traditional Balinese masks. They use the archetypes such as the Queen, Clown, Hero, and more, but are informed by specific folk figures such as Pak Pandir, Nenek Kebayan and Siti Wan Kembang, just to name a few.  

No prior experience or background in masks is required. The workshop will be physical so comfortable clothing is recommended, and for those that wear spectacles, contact lenses are recommended for the portions of the workshop in which masks are worn. 

Jamil Schulze (he/him) is a graduate of the BA(Hons) Acting, and MA Arts Pedagogy and Practice programme at LASALLE and Goldsmiths University.  He is an artist, theatremaker, actor-movement trainer, and co-founder of Nusantara Theatrics. Alongside colleague and company co-founder Tan Guo Lian Sutton, they teach a blend of mask work and silat tua, which they termtopengan silat tua. Building upon this psychophysical approach to performer training, Jamil furthers his own practice of mask work in Bali, as well as the techniques of Chekhov and Grotowski at The Bali Conservatory. He is particularly interested in practices of sensory attunement to the atmosphere of a space and orienting the performer to human and other-than-human expressive presences within those spaces. Selected theatre credits as an actor include Make Hantus Great Again by Teater Ekamatra, The Glass Menagerie by Pangdemonium, and The Lifespan of a Fact by STC (formerly the Singapore Repertory Theatre). 

by Firdaus Sani, Muhammad Faisal Husni, Hafiz Rashid and Zarina Muhammad  

This session brings together researchers, cultural advocates and storytellers sharing their work and speaking on our fascinating, sometimes fraught, but essentially inseparable relationships with animals and knowledge systems across spaces of multispecies cohabitation.   

Firdaus Sani is a fourth-generation orang laut/pulau descendant whose ancestry can be traced to the islanders of Singapore’s Southern islands and the Riau Islands. His maternal grandparents used to live on Pulau Semakau until 1977, when they had to leave their home for the mainland. Growing up, Firdaus visited Pulau Semakau on many occasions with his grandparents, where he learnt the traditions and the ways of life of the people who had a deep connection with the sea. Firdaus is the founder of Orang Laut SG, a page dedicated to reclaiming indigenous narratives. As an advocate for indigenous voices, Firdaus has spoken about his cultural heritage on platforms such as TedxYouth@Singapore and Singapore Writers Festival. 

Muhammad Faisal Husni is a researcher with an interest in the art histories of Singapore and Southeast Asia. He holds a B.F.A. in Visual Communications and an M.A. (Research) from the School of Art, Design and Media (ADM), Nanyang Technological University (NTU). His research interests include multi-religious and multicultural heritage and spaces of worship, and religious and Islamic art and traditions of Singapore, Southeast Asia and the Malay world. His main study is centred on keramat graves in Singapore and the Malay World, with the focus of his M.A. research thesis titled, The Grave that Became A Shrine: The Lives of Keramat Graves in Singapore. 

Hafiz Rashid is an experienced museum docent who has been volunteering with the National Heritage Board (NHB) since 2013. He is also a storyteller who has performed at various events and venues such as Storyfest at the Arts House in 2019, 2022 and 2023 as well as Singapore Heritagefest 2023. In 2021, he received the Teman Warisan award in recognition of his dedication and contribution to the Malay arts and heritage sector. His research interests include learning about the history, culture, folklore and languages of the Malay Archipelago (Nusantara) with a special focus on textiles. Thus, he is often seen wearing these textiles in his tours and incorporates them in his storytelling, sharing the stories behind their motifs and designs—stories with deep links to the past. 

Zarina Muhammad is an artist, educator and researcher whose practice is deeply entwined with a critical re-examination of oral histories, ethnographic literature and other historiographic accounts about Southeast Asia. Working at the intersections of installation, moving image, sound, photography, text and performance, Zarina’s practice has been interested in the broader contexts of ecocultural identities and interactions, indigenous ontologies and the cultural translations within myth-making to seek out a more-than-human multidimensional understanding of our place in the world.  

by Muhammad Mustaghfir & Danish Hamzah 

Bersampingan is a collaborative activation that explores interpersonal relationships through the use of clothing, specifically focusing on the samping, a garment traditionally worn by men alongside the baju melayu during Malay festivities. The term samping itself carries poetic connotations of companionship and coexistence, signifying the act of being samping (beside) someone or something. In efforts to modernise Malay attire and cater to the discomfort of Singapore’s humid climate, the samping is often sacrificed by some, falling out of favour due to perceived impracticality. The declining knowledge and practice of wearing the samping has also led to a reliance on online tutorials to uphold this cultural tradition, often worn only a few times a year. By exploring the tension between a practice’s cultural significance and the declining practical knowledge surrounding it, the artwork invites reflection on the importance of community and collaboration in sustaining cultural attire. 

Muhammad Mustaghfir is an art practitioner whose work encompasses drawing, (soft) sculpture and performance. In his current practice, he is exploring the body in relation to clothing and its performativity in an attempt to understand intimacy. His exploration of identity and gendered expectations is confronted through his interventions with domestic and everyday objects. Through this, he draws meaning from the simplicity of his everyday encounters, surfacing the intersections of bodily duties and bodily desires. 

Mustaghfir is currently pursuing his degree in Fine Arts from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. He was recently nominated for the prestigious International Takifuji Art Award in 2023 and has participated in group exhibitions such as laughter is a breath away from a sigh at HEARTH Art Outreach (2023), Serving Thots at UltraSuperNew Gallery (2023) and THERE–HERE at Alliance Française de Singapour La galerie, Singapore (2023). 

Fascinated by complex human relationships and spontaneity of everyday life, Danish Hamzah conveys them into his works while incorporating his personal experiences. The representation of his thoughts and identity can be seen through his body of works as he uses his culture and religious practices as his inspiration. His artistic practice ranges from photography to performance art. 

by Hasyimah Harith, Ruby Jayaseelan, Amirah Haziqah & Zarina Muhammad 

The closing performance gently marks the quietening hours of the evening, the expressions of gratitude that accompany points of transit and thresholds in a long journey. In these quietening moments, we hold space for gestures of reconciliation, a cradling of grief and a space to allow the love for difficult things to be laid to rest. We hold space for intergenerational hand me downs of lullabies, mementoes, instructions or storytelling we end up believing as fact or myth. We hold close objects or intangible things that comfort, burden, bewilder or fascinate us. We hold space for gathering in ease, for dreaming, for the tenderness existing between forgiveness and grudges, the restlessness between solitude, companionship and the deep presence that emerges when safety is created in the spaces and interconnected ecologies we safeguard and return to. 

Hasyimah Harith is a Malay-Muslim female artist that performs, choreographs and teaches Malay folk dance. Using her body as the starting point, Hasyimah works with the Malay traditions and eroticism as a way to reclaim agency over her body. Her working methods involve strategies of boosting libido, such as fantasy and intimacy. Her works hope to confront and overcome the conditioned shame and grief that is often attached to female eroticism. 

Ruby Jayaseelan is an experimental movement artist deeply rooted in ancient embodiment practices such as bharatanatyam and yoga, and intensely informed by somatic techniques and authentic movement. She lives by moving, performing, teaching and collaborating on stages, streets and nature, indulging in the holistic practice of art, movement and its philosophy.  

Amirah Haziqah is a Singaporean artist who graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts with a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts. Her works explore the themes of grief, trauma and healing. Most of her works derive from her own lived experiences. She aspires to shed light on the complexity and multi-faceted nature of painful moments or memories and to bring forth a means of healing through her works. The mediums of her fortes are performance art, pencil and marker illustrations, and painting. Amirah is also currently diving into different fields of expression, such as acting and singing. 

Rosemainy Buang is a gamelan musician, educator, composer, and sound artist from Singapore. With a decade of training in gamelan, she is dedicated to expanding her creative horizons through collaborative projects with other artists from diverse disciplines. Approaching art-making with a multidisciplinary and experimental attitude, she attempts to question, build upon and expand the limits of traditional soundscapes, philosophies and aesthetics. 

Zachary Chan is a graphic designer, gamelan musician, sound designer, composer and visual artist. He co-founded the design studio CROP with an aim to work with artists and cultural institutions. His artistic practice is rooted in collaboration, and he regularly presents work together with The Migrant Ecologies Projects, Zarina Muhammad and Joel Tan, Rosemainy Buang and gamelan ensemble Singa Nglaras. He currently lives and works in Singapore. 

Zarina Muhammad is an artist, educator and researcher whose practice is deeply entwined with a critical re-examination of oral histories, ethnographic literature and other historiographic accounts about Southeast Asia. Working at the intersections of installation, moving image, sound, photography, text and performance, Zarina’s practice has been interested in the broader contexts of ecocultural identities and interactions, indigenous ontologies and the cultural translations within myth-making to seek out a more-than-human multidimensional understanding of our place in the world.  

Suriani Suratman started pottery classes in 2001 at the Centre for the Arts, National University of Singapore under the tutorship of Master Potter Iskandar Jalil. She continued to study with Iskandar at his studio in Jalan Senyum from 2003 and at Jalan Bahar Clay Studios from 2005. She currently practises at Jalan Bahar Clay Studios where she also teaches ceramics. 

Suriani exhibited with Ahmad Abu Bakar at Tanah Air - Homeland (2016) at The Private Museum. Her two solos were Cita Seni: Receptacle of Feeling/Filling (2017), The Arts House and Alam – A Pottery Exhibition by Suriani Suratman (2013), ART2 Gallery, Singapore. 

Dr Suriani, a social anthropologist, is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore. Her work in ceramics draws her personal expression to her keen interest in how people are shaped by cultural practice and values passed down. 

Zarina Muhammad is an artist, educator and researcher whose practice is deeply entwined with a critical re-examination of oral histories, ethnographic literature and other historiographic accounts about Southeast Asia. Working at the intersections of installation, moving image, sound, photography, text and performance, Zarina’s practice has been interested in the broader contexts of ecocultural identities and interactions, indigenous ontologies and the cultural translations within myth-making to seek out a more-than-human multidimensional understanding of our place in the world.  

Fajrina Razak is a visual artist, cultural worker, curator and educator.  

As a visual artist, her work takes on an analysis-approach practice, using traditional materials and contemporary mediums as conduits for the archival of knowledge and by extension, forming inquiries on historical references related to Nusantara and Southeast Asia. These are entwined with an ongoing interest in issues centred around the dichotomies of ‘secularity and spirituality’ and ‘individuality and collectivity’. Working primarily with batik, her works are also translated across mediums such as image-making, installation and text-based art. 

Amirah Haziqah is a Singaporean artist who graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts with a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts. Her works explore the themes of grief, trauma and healing. Most of her works derive from her own lived experiences. She aspires to shed light on the complexity and multi-faceted nature of painful moments or memories and to bring forth a means of healing through her works. The mediums of her fortes are performance art, pencil and marker illustrations, and painting. Amirah is also currently diving into different fields of expression, such as acting and singing. 

Hanis Moksan is a printmaker bound in her pursuit of material experimentation. Armed with a background in interior design and fine arts, she strives to embody her works through materiality and space. Touching on topics of human values while questioning connections between souls, she aims to create tangible pieces within our confined reality that encourages reflection of oneself. Hanis graduated from LASALLE College the Arts with a Bachelors in Fine Arts and is currently pursuing floristry as part of her continuous exploration of art. 

Muhammad Mustaghfir is an art practitioner whose work encompasses drawing, (soft) sculpture and performance. In his current practice, he is exploring the body in relation to clothing and its performativity in an attempt to understand intimacy. His exploration of identity and gendered expectations is confronted through his interventions with domestic and everyday objects. Through this, he draws meaning from the simplicity of his everyday encounters, surfacing the intersections of bodily duties and bodily desires. 

Sarah Noorhimli has built a body of work that attests to the temporality of the human body in an environment of rapid urbanisation. She sifts through her personal image archives and appropriates cultural references to conceive a hybrid form of speculative nostalgia—a sentimental dreamscape that emanates feelings of familiarity and discomfort. Recently, Sarah has shifted her focus to the materiality of the body in its form and existence. She interrogates the manifestation of an artwork through her bodily presence, prioritising human connection over physical production. 

Zheng Jialei is an art practitioner investigating the concerns of the Chinese diaspora and the fragmentation of her cultural identity. Born to immigrant parents, her sense of displacement nudges her to look into loss and trauma, and with that comes reconciliation. Zheng works mainly with performance, text, and objects.