A day of art and artists, in the 14-acre tropical greenery of Rimbun Dahan, 45 minutes from Kuala Lumpur.
On Sunday 26 November 2023, Rimbun Dahan will be open to the public to view works in progress by our current resident artists Wild Dot (Singapore), Marionne Contreras (Philippines), Sigrid Gayangos (Philippines), Wong Ming Hao (Malaysia), Sreynoch Khun & Ny Lai (Cambodia), Annabell Ng (Malaysia) and Alyssa Powell-Ascura (Australia).
Free entry. Registration required for garden tour only (see below).
Schedule
9:00am-11:00am: Guided tour of our 14-acre native Southeast Asian arboretum and garden at Rimbun Dahan by Angela Hijjas. Meet at the front gate. Slots are limited, and registrations are required for the garden tour. Please register here: https://forms.gle/dQuNBHd7gNeXJffL9
11:00am-2:00pm: Visual artists’ studios and screening room open to the public. Please visit the studios and have a chat with the artists. Some works are available for sale.
2:00-3:00pm: Studios and screening room closed for lunch break. You are welcome to bring your own picnic to enjoy in the garden; please clean up your own trash.
3:00-6:00pm: Visual artists’ studios and screening room open to the public.
3:00-4:15pm: Writing Workshop by Sigrid Marianne Gayangos (Philippines). Read more about Sigrid and the writing workshop here…
4:30-5:30pm: Dance Studio sharing by Sreynoch Khun and Ny Lai (Cambodia).
Travelling Directions
Use Waze to drive to Rimbun Dahan: https://waze.com/ul/hw284q6meb
Use Google Maps to drive to Rimbun Dahan: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ft5fV9YpGsvciCtU8
Landmarks: Our front gate is opposite Warung Selera Ria and also next to the start of Lorong Belimbing. Do not enter Lorong Belimbing, please enter the front gate from the main road.
Tips for Visitors
- We have parking inside the compound, along the driveway. Just drive in the front gate and park as indicated along the drive.
- Bring your own mosquito repellent!
- We are sorry, Rimbun Dahan is not a wheelchair accessible venue.
- Wear practical shoes if you are planning to walk around the garden.
- Bring an umbrella in case of rain.
- No refreshments or water provided. Feel free to bring your own picnic, and enjoy it in the gardens; please clean up all your trash.
- No pets, no swimming — thank you for your cooperation.
If you have any questions, please email arts@rimbundahan.org or WhatsApp Bilqis at +6017-3103769.
About the Artists
Annabell Ng, a Malaysian-born artist, developed a strong bond with her father over their shared interest in plants, sparking her fascination with edible plants from a young age. Despite her passion for creative arts and music, she fell in love with the piano at 5 and dedicated herself to mastering it, earning a bachelor’s degree in classical music. However, her journey took an unexpected turn when she enrolled in the Fine Arts course at the Malaysia Institute of Art. There, she found inspiration leading her to develop a unique symbolic language in her art using natural materials. With an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Annabell now focuses her art on addressing pressing environmental issues, raising awareness worldwide about the environment’s preservation.
Sigrid Marianne Gayangos was born and raised in Zamboanga City, Philippines. She is the author of Laut: Stories (UP Press), a National Book Award finalist, and Lola Maria’s Candles (Aklat Alamid), a forthcoming bilingual children’s book. In 2021, she was the recipient of the NCCA’s Writers Prize for Fiction, which enabled her to complete a second collection of short stories in Chavacano. She is currently working on self-translating her Chavacano collection, El Vida Encantao (The Enchanted Life), to English. In 2023, she was awarded first prize in the Gawad Bienvenido Lumbera National Literary Contest for her poetry collection in Chavacano, Descarga. She teaches at the Department of Humanities in the University of the Philippines Mindanao.
Wong Ming Hao, born in 1988 in Malaysia, pursued a Diploma in Fine Art from Dasein Academy of Art in 2010. His international presence includes “Art For All: Art Gala by Art Expo Malaysia” and “Art Moments Jakarta Online” with G13 Gallery. His solo exhibitions “Unreal Reality” appeared at HOM Art Trans in 2020, and his artworks have been featured in group exhibitions including “Between Spaces” and “S.O.P.” at G13 Gallery and “Pure Painting 2” at Maybank. He won the Gold Award at the UOB Painting of the Year 2020 and Jury Choice at Bakat Muda Sezaman 2019, and was selected for the A-RES residency program at HOM Art Trans in 2018, further solidifying his position as a rising star in the art world.
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 specialize in artmaking with found pigments and fibers 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-commercialized making tools and materials.
Marionne Contreras (b. 1992) is a visual artist based in Manila, Philippines, with a current emphasis on fiber and fabric based works. Her works are diaristic, often with themes of memory, its persistence, its purity, and its vulnerability to tampering, with constant undertones of womanhood, consistently taking the role of the female as narrator; taking visual inspiration from textures and forms found in nature while maintaining an aesthetic that leans towards the synthetic. She has been actively exhibiting in The Philippines. Her most recent one-person exhibition, Poetry has left me, just concluded in Vinyl On Vinyl Gallery, Makati City, Philippines.
Ny&Khun (Ny Lai and Khun Sreynoch) is a Cambodian contemporary art duo whose main form of expression is dance/theatre, combined with photography and painting. They have operated as a duo for 3 years, emerging from a group called New Cambodian Artists (NCA). Their work SnowWhite/Revisited was selected for the Singapore M1 Fringe Festival 2021, and won 2nd prize from the expert jury of the international theater competition from Milan, Italy, in 2021. Early this year, Ny&Khun were invited to be the main artists at the international Angkor Photo Festival 2023, with their photography work series Speaking in Silence. The duo recently won the 1st ZKB Acknowledgment prize at the Zurcher Theater Spectacle Switzerland 2023, with their work Sronoh/SnowWhite.
Alyssa Powell-Ascura is an emerging multi-hyphenated creative. An Asian Australian, Alyssa works across a variety of artistic mediums including writing, visual and conceptual art, immersive installation, traditional and mixed digital media, and moving images. A finalist of the inaugural SA Environment Awards 2023, she was nominated for her environmental advocacy and using her platform as an emerging creative to promote sustainability and inspire young people. Her artistic expression delves into her personal narrative as the grandchild of an Igorot woman, weaving a narrative that explores her ties to Indigenous Philippines, Filipino history, diaspora, and the impact of colonisation.
About Rimbun Dahan
Rimbun Dahan is the home of Malaysian architect Hijjas Kasturi and his wife Angela. Set on fourteen acres outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the compound of Rimbun Dahan is a centre for developing traditional and contemporary art forms. It features buildings designed by Hijjas Kasturi, as well as two early 20th century traditional Malay houses from Perak and Penang, in an indigenous Southeast Asian garden environment which has recently been awarded arboretum status. Rimbun Dahan is private property, and is only open to the public on Open Days.