Sarawak-based visual artist Catriona Maddocks is in residence at Rimbun Dahan for one month, from October to November 2022.
About the Artist
Catriona Maddocks is a curator, artist and researcher from the United Kingdom, based in Sarawak, Malaysia since 2009. Her cross-disciplinary work focuses on collaborative platform-building, and developing spaces in which to explore identity, community and cultural heritage within a contemporary context.
Through her art she often juxtaposes folklore with personal narratives, finding points of reference and crossovers between cultures and national identities. She is currently working on an illustrated series called Pua exploring Gaelic and Bornean myths and legends.
She is the curator for arts platform Borneo Bengkel and co-founder of social enterprise Catama, and was a recipient of the 2020 Krishen Jit Fund.
IG: @catrionamaddocks
Website: www.borneobengkel.com
About the Residency
During her residency at Rimbun Dahan Catriona has chosen to focus on process and play, taking time to explore her creative voice rather than the outcome-based practice of her curatorial work. She has utilised various mediums, including screen printing, paint and ink on tracing paper and fabric to produce exploratory works as part of her ongoing “Pua” series.
The work takes aesthetic inspiration from the Iban spiritual woven cloth, the pua kumbu, and juxtaposes The Lambton Worm, a folktale about a dragon that terrorised Northern England, with a reimaged Nabau—a shape-shifting water serpent—and is visually presented using the geometric lines and abstract visual aesthetic of the pua kumbu.
Interspersed through the work are historical characters, battles and mythology from both Sarawak and the United Kingdom, and well as flora and fauna found here at Rimbun Dahan.
