Felicity Fenner is an Australian curator of contemporary exhibitions including Primavera 2005 at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the 2008 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art and Once Removed, Australia’s group exhibition at the 2009Venice Biennale. She is a contributing editor of Art Asia Pacific and publishes regularly in a variety of journals including Art in America and Art and Australia.
Felicity is Senior Curator at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales and Deputy Director of UNSW’s Centre for Contemporary Art and Politics. She is completing a PhD on curatorial strategies in major international exhibitions. During her time at Rimbun Dahan, Felicity is continuing her ongoing research into contemporary Asian art in preparation for a major exhibition exploring how artists and designers envisage our future urban and social environments in the context of global warming and climate change.
Rochelle Haley drawing during a rehearsal of ‘Strings’ in the dance studio at Rimbun Dahan.
Rochelle Haley was one of the Australian resident artists of the year-long Malaysia-Australia Visual Arts Residence at Rimbun Dahan in 2009. In addition to her practice creating works for the joint exhibition with Australian artist Monika Behrens and Malaysian artist Shamsudin Wahab which was presented in the Underground Gallery at Rimbun Dahan from 28 February to 14 March 2010, Rochelle also participated in the contemporary dance performance Strings at The Actors Studio Theatre in January 2010.
The exhibition at Rimbun Dahan included the ancillary event, ‘High Tea at the Pleasure Garden’, a discussion moderated by the managing editors of online arts writing platform ARTERI (Eva McGovern, Simon Soon & Sharon Chin) based on the site-specific installation Pleasure Garden by Monika Behrens and Rochelle Haley in the newly constructed Penang House at Rimbun Dahan.
Bio
‘Pendulous Heart’. 2009. Reflective film, metallic paint and etching on glass. 30 x 21 cm.
Rochelle Haley is a Sydney based artist working broadly within the fields of experimental drawing and installation. She has recently completed a PhD at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales where she also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours degree. Haley has held several solo exhibitions of her work the most recent of which in February 2009 titled Land Incorporated at the Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney. She has also shown extensively in group exhibitions in Australia and abroad including the Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship at Artspace, Sydney, CIGE, Exhibition Hall China World Trade Centre, Beijing, Fading Lines, Nomad Gallery, Islamabad and the 3rd International Triennial, Marmara University, Istanbul.
Central to Haley’s work is the exploration of the relationship between the human subject and their physical and social environment. Recently this concern has been expressed through a series of incised paper works investigating the relation between the land, the body and its representation. Imaging the landscape using unusual methods of ‘drawing’ with blades and carving into heavy white paper, Haley creates artworks that require a viewer to negotiate light and texture. The appearance-disappearance of the landscape is dependant upon the proximity and changing position of the viewer as they attempt to achieve a clear view. The drawings create awareness in the viewer of the position and movement of their body in relation to the work. The subjects Haley primarily takes for her work are landmarks of great cultural value recognised by their inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Strings
In a collision between dance and drawing, the movements of a dancer are transformed into a series of lines drawn live by Rochelle Haley. Other dancers then use these visual cues to interpret their own movement. A unique performative process which changes every time it is performed, Strings gives us insight into new ways to produce art and movement.
Performed by Australian visual artist Rochelle Haley and dancers of Rimbun Dahan and ASWARA, at The Actors Studio Theatre at Lot 10, 23 January 2010.
Moves & Sorts is part of FUSED, a bi-monthly experimental series at The Actors Studio Lot 10, hoping to bring new audiences into theatres and to give emerging talents a chance to perform. Moves & Sorts is a joint production of The Actors Studio and MyDance Alliance.
The 16th of December was a red-letter day for birdwatching at Rimbun Dahan — we got our first good photographs of a barred eagle-owl. Our first sighting of this impressive predator had occurred at dusk several days before, when the alarm screeches of drongos alerted us to its presence in a tree in the Taman Sari. The three drongos were swooping and calling around the owl, but none dared to get very close.
The owl was very tolerant of our staring, and even more so when we finally caught it on camera a few days later while disturbing its daytime nap. We were lucky enough to have our friends Akshay Sateesh and Brooke Resh visiting with their digital SLR to take some good shots.
The eagle-owl has been seen several times resting in the same ipoh tree, Antiaris toxicaria, beside the steps of the dance studio, gripping the branches with its enormous yellow feet. Once two individuals were observed sharing the same tree, enjoying a communal snooze.
The barred eagle-owl using its flexible neck to look over its shoulder.
Strong yellow feet armed with formidable claws keep its grip on its perch.
The barred eagle-owl does its best gremlin impression.
Fluffy butts! A pair of barred eagle-owls seen from below.
The barred eagle-owl (Bubo sumatranus) is found in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, and is now thought to be extinct in Singapore. It is a resident from low elevations up to 600m, and frequents forests, the forest edge, overgrown plantations and heavily wooded suburbs of towns and cities. Like other typical owls it is nocturnal, hunting from perches and flying low to locate prey after dusk. (Jeyarajasingam & Pearson, 1999)
The barred eagle-owl is the largest of several species of owl occasionally encountered at Rimbun Dahan. Other owls that have been seen include the barn owl (Tyto alba) and a smaller scops-owl.
The drongo cuckoo showing the diagnostic white barrings on its vent and undertail coverts.
On the same day as the owl sighting, a drongo cuckoo flew into the main house at Rimbun Dahan and became disoriented and trapped in the television room. After barging about and crashing into the walls and ceiling, it finally managed to find its way out through an open window, and flew off apparently none the worse for wear.
The drongo cuckoo (Surniculus lugubris) is a glossy black bird with a down-curved bill and a forked tail. It is a resident, passage migrant and winter visitor to Malaysia, inhabiting the forest and the forest edge. Usually keeping to the canopy and the crowns of tall trees, it does not chase insects from an open perch in the manner of real drongos. A parasitic cuckoo, it has been known to lay its eggs in the nests of the Striped Tit-Babbler, leaving the foster parents to incubate the eggs and raise the young. (Jeyarajasingam & Pearson, 1999)
Silly as a drongo, bashing into the glass.
A brief rest at the open window, before flying off.
Another day of dance at Rimbun Dahan, this time with British dance teacher Karen Lacey.
Still trying to nail those fouettes? Don’t know your layout from your lying down? Or just want to hone the skills you have and learn some slick sassy new repertoire while you’re at it?
10 – 10.30 — Registration and warmup
10.30 – 11.45 am — Contemporary class
11.45 – 1 pm — Contemporary repertoire
1 – 2 pm — lunch
2 – 3.15pm — Jazz class
3.15 – 4.30pm — Jazz repertoire
Price: RM 50 for whole day, RM 30 for either morning or afternoon session, lunch included.
For intermediate to advanced dancers, aged 14 and above.
Places are limited. To register, please contact Bilqis at bhijjas@gmail.com or 017 310 3769, with your name, age, email address, phone number and dietary restrictions, if any.
ABOUT KAREN LACEY
Karen is the Artistic Director for professional group RE-Creation UK www.myspace.com/re_creationuk which has received national and International acclaim. She has been awarded various choreography awards for her Jazz, Musical Theatre and Fusion styles, including Champion Place for Contemporary at the Tuscany International Dance Festival and Artistic Direction award at the Barcelona International Dance Festival this year. Her choreography has been seen in the commercial world for clients such as the BBC, Ribena, Pearsons Publishers and Italian television.
After completing her BA Hons in Performing Arts – Dance in 2002, Karen started work as manager for the Beverly Marks Stage School, where she is responsible for the coordination of the school’s competitive events calendar and choreography for the teams, director of the bi-annual shows performed at local professional theatres and the teaching of Jazz, Contemporary and Dance Technique.
Karen’s skills are ensuring strong basic technique is in place for all her students and then working with the varying strengths of each individual group to create exciting, interesting choreography that both the performers and audience can engage in and fitting the brief for the competitive floor, theatrical performance or television.
The stormy season is in full sway in mid November with rain every day; often it’s dark by 5 as the clouds close in and the dogs all go to ground. It’s a wonderful time for the garden, although it has its dramatic moments.
Lightening strike is something I have long been aware of, as our trees are now the highest things around, but we are making progress there. My theory is that with creepers, big or small, going up and through the trees, any tall tree is effectively earthed. The only problem is getting them established without engulfing the tree with exuberant growth. On last week’s walk in Rimba Ilmu, we noted a terap tree that had been struck, but it was dead just at the top; where the lower branches touched adjacent trees it was still alive. That connection is what protects trees in forests, otherwise we would see far more lightening damage than there is.
I am constantly aware too that wind loosens and breaks fruits and branches, so it’s not a good idea to walk in the garden at Rimbun Dahan just before a storm hits when the wind has considerable force. A bunch of old coconuts landing on you is not a healthy proposition.
On Friday 13th, we should have been prepared. Our only Shorea sumatrana, one of our first plantings, near the staff houses, was snapped in two by a strong wind. Fortunately it fell away from Effendi’s house towards the garage, but a piece of branch from another tree fell onto the roof of the garage and skewered right through! Some of the trees have extremely heavy wood, and a fall from some height at the right angle is extremely hazardous. We considered leaving it as a natural installation, but that would have been more hazardous to my stores inside!
This is the same tree that recently flowered in a veil of pink. It was one of the first Dipterocarps planted at Rimbun Dahan, and is critically endangered in the wild. Luckily we have recently propagated 10 seedlings from this tree, when Lauren Black drew and painted its botanic features. We were also able to collect several seeds from the fallen branches. I’ll have to plant them away from the buildings and make sure they have structural support. Creepers tie the trees to each other and provide stability as well as grounding them from lightening strike.
The tree snapped in the middle.
The courtyard swamped by the debris, which had to be cut up with chainsaws before removal.
Rimbun Dahan staff contemplating the clean-up job ahead of them.
Seeds collected from the fallen tree.
Getting started with the chainsaw.
Plenty of firewood for the future!
Point of entry of the branch into the storeroom roof.
The branch coming through the storeroom ceiling.
Landscape design in the tropics has to factor in protecting buildings, as the plants do present danger. Similar to kampong adjacent to forest, you don’t want to be too close: snakes, wild boar, centipedes and monitor lizards have all found their way into our house, and ants are an every day problem, but these are not the only issues. In the tropics, houses are more comfortable away from overhanging trees, and this is where I have an issue with the enveloping nature of the Bali style of planting, the tropical version of an English cottage garden.
Overhanging trees do shade a house, but they don’t make it any cooler. Instead they prevent it from drying out during the day when the sun has full force and from cooling quickly at night. Humidity increases, much to the detriment of the building and things inside. Trees too limit the amount of air movement through a building, and if you want natural ventilation to substitute for air conditioning, trees in close proximity will block the little air flow there is.
Another reason for planting away from buildings relates to viewing the trees. Tropical plants do not have spectacular displays of flowers that one associates with an English garden. Flowers are small and only occasionally do they appear en mass for a dramatic display. In a forest, fragrance is more important to advertise the readiness of flowers for pollination when vistas are blocked all around. A lavish display of blossom would be wasted if it can’t be seen. When considering placing tropical trees to view any flowering, they are better positioned away from the house as flowers are on the outside of the canopy; if a tree is adjacent to a house all you see is its underside and not any display of flowers or changing foliage.
The gardens at Rimbun Dahan surround the buildings, but wherever possible there are spaces between buildings and plants, including those in pots. Early plantings though, like the Shorea sumatrana, were carelessly placed close to houses, only to crash down decades later. I guess too, I never appreciated how big they grow in relation to the domestic scale.
A Lime Butterfly, Papilio demoleus malayanus, was resting on the glass door of Rochelle and Monika’s studio, and was much admired by all. Unfortunately for the butterfly, 5 minutes after it posed for photographs, a cheeky gecko came and ate it.
This, a familiar butterfly of gardens and villages, is one of a group all of which have remarkably similar caterpillars which feed on kinds of citrus. P. demoleus is the commonest: almost every small lime bush seems to have larvae.
The eggs are usually laid upon young leaves; the larvae first resemble bird-droppings, later becoming green with grey oblique markings which effectually disguise them. The pupa, like those of many Papilionid and Pierid butterflies, is able to adapt its colour, within limits, to its surroundings.
Common and widely distributed in S.E. Asia, New Guinea and Australia, this insect is not found in Java, Sumatra or Borneo.
From Common Malayan Butterflies, R. Morrell, Malaysian Nature Handbooks
According to Wikipedia, The Black-thighed Falconet (Microhierax fringillarius) is one of the smallest birds of prey. It is typically between 14 to 18 centimetres long. It can be found in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. It breeds in tree holes. It feeds on small birds and insects. The typical habitat is forest, forest edge and wooded open area. Our pair of falconets was photographed while feasting on dragonflies.
The Grammatophyllumspeciosa orchid is once again flowering, for the third time in its life, and the first since 2005.
Shorea acuminata, meranti rambai daun, is in the red meranti group of Shoreas. It is a tree of the southern half of the peninsula, most common in Negeri Sembilan and Melaka. It prefers low lying well-drained land and is often the most abundant meranti in the forest. Although greatly reduced by forest conversion, this species is not currently at risk. This species was planted at Rimbun Dahan about 12 years ago and is fruiting for the first time, but very sparsely.
We already have two species of primates at Rimbun Dahan, without counting humans — the common, gregarious and inquisitive long-tailed macaques, Macaca fascicularis, and the shy and retiring langurs who frequent the treetops in smaller family groups.
We have had occasional sightings recently of a pig-tailed macaque, Macaca nemestrina, or beruk in Malay, a very large monkey that has been traditionally used to pluck coconuts and throw them down to their handlers on the ground. You could once see them being taken from grove to grove on the owner’s bicycle, sitting on the handlebars, holding on and staring grimly ahead.
E. J. H. Corner, the famous botanist of the ’40s and ’50s, trained them to pluck samples from trees in the forests of Johor, but apparently they had to be trained only in Kelantanese dialect, as that was all they understood! Eventually one of Corner’s beruk attacked him, landing him in hospital for several months, but probably saved him from being killed by the occupying Japanese during the World War II. Beruk are known to be aggressive; Corner himself noted that one of his specimens would, if allowed, “savage small children.” Our dogs at Rimbun Dahan are taking care to remain deliberately aloof.
No sooner did the pig tail macaque make an appearance than a real one pig came along — a baby wild boar, Sus scrofa, separated from its mother. The dogs cornered it apparently but because it bites they didn’t want to know much more about it. Sham, our handyman, heard the ruckus and found it, but it tried to bite him too! Bad photos because I needed a flash, and it was wriggling a lot…
We have had occasional instances of wild boars at Rimbun Dahan, although these are fewer now that we have fixed a few holes in the fence. They come from the surrounding abandoned rubber estates, where they are hunted by weekend warriors for food. Wild boar piglets are striped, whereas adults are not — this is thought to help them stay camouflaged. Usually wild boar sows with piglets are particularly defensive of their young, and can inflict ferocious wounds although, unlike the male boars, they have no tusks.
Felicity Fenner is an Australian curator of contemporary exhibitions including Primavera 2005 at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the 2008 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art and Once Removed, Australia’s group exhibition at the 2009Venice Biennale. She is a contributing editor of Art Asia Pacific and publishes regularly in a variety of journals including Art in America and Art and Australia.
The exhibition at Rimbun Dahan included the ancillary event, ‘High Tea at the Pleasure Garden’, a discussion moderated by the managing editors of online arts writing platform ARTERI (Eva McGovern, Simon Soon & Sharon Chin) based on the site-specific installation Pleasure Garden by 
