Annabell Ng undertook a three-month residency at Rimbun Dahan in 2023, continuing to explore her practice focused on mark-making reminiscent of minute fragments, as well as developing her concepts of mycelium cultivation.
About the Artist
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.
Throughout the residency, my primary objective is to relocate my ongoing artwork to this new studio, allowing me to advance and refine it through fresh encounters with perspectives and reflections in this novel environment. The mark-making methods I’ll employ will encompass a diverse array of forms, reminiscent of minute fragments extracted from various information systems. My approach involves a methodical re-exploration of these fragments, strategically layering them to establish a harmonious rhythm, which will eventually find integration into my paintings, sculptures. Beyond this, I intend to embark on an experimentation journey, further evolving my ongoing mycelium concepts focused on mycofiltration.
Malaysian visual artist Suhaimi Fadzir continued his practice of ‘archipainting’ during a two-month residency at Rimbun Dahan in July and August 2023, creating wall-mounted assemblages from found materials from here and elsewhere.
About the Artist
Suhaimi Fadzir is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice is motivated by his non-traditional research based practice driven by observing our history, culture, nature, context, and the intersections between science, art and architecture.
He studied art and architecture at Washington University, St. Louis, USA. He has won many art and architecture awards and grants, and has exhibited internationally in numerous biennials, solo and group shows, among them, the prestigious 12th, 13th and 14th Venice Biennale (Architecture), Venice, Italy in 2010, 2012 & 2014, Meiji University Museum, Tokyo, Japan in 2011, the Dublin Biennial, Dublin, Ireland alongside Yoko Ono, where he won the Dublin Biennial Award of Excellence in 2012, a two-man show with late renowned photographer Ansel Adams’ works at Schmidt Art Center, Belleville, Illinois, USA in 2010, Art Basel Miami Week, Miami, Florida, USA and a solo show organized by Saatchi Gallery London and M&C Saatchi, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2013.
His art practice has displayed a consistent sculptural quality, and his hybrid term “Archipainting” has been used in reference to his artworks, a concept that he developed in the 1980s which, blends fine art with structural intricacies and special deconstruction of architecture. History, collective memory, personal experience and environment are elements woven together by him into a non-linear story where distinctions between present, past, fiction, imagination, and reality are nullified. His mixed media works, as well as installation and sculpture pieces have included canvases daubed with found objects and covered in unusual textures and materials, or is inspired by, found objects, which he collects extensively while on the fields both locally and abroad. These overlapping points of reference run throughout all his works and his paintings resist easy interpretation, but rather suggest alternative possibilities of seeing. The interaction with the landscape around him is also reflected in his work, which comments astutely on the nature of contemporary society.
“What I’m working on at my residency with Rimbun Dahan is a continuation of what I started in Langkawi in 2018; it is artwork based on the examination of nature, context, surrounding events, and observances of human behavior and their relationships with others.
“By observing and studying intangible elements such as neighbor and family relationships, feelings, smells, listening to sounds of nature, flipping through site debris, taking photographs, checking minerals, insects, local culture, food, artisans, etc., together with incorporating materials found in the neighborhood, I produce the possibility of art in the form of calligraphy, painting, sculpture, assemblage and installation.
“Editing, questioning and experiencing the art process is a part of my practice, my way of marking my stay. It is like a recording of my presence at Rimbun Dahan.”
Thai visual artist Charuwan Noprumpha undertook a 2-month residency at Rimbun Dahan in July and August 2023, combining a daily practice of sketches from what she saw with a personal project exploring drawing and watercolour, depicting the seen and the unseen.
About the Artist
Charuwan Noprumpha lives and works in Bangkok, Thailand. A graduate with a master’s degree from France (École européenne supérieure d’art de Bretagne-site de Quimper) and the Erasmus Exchange Program at Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe, Germany (Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe), Charuwan received an award from French Cultural Center, Freiburg, Germany from participating in the festival of La Biennale of Young Contemporary Creation, Mulhouse, France. She was selected to participate in the artist residency at Les ateliers du Plessix-Madeuc, Dinan, France. Charuwan has participated by invitation in exhibitions in many countries such as Belgium, France, Germany and Thailand.
About the Residency
“Upon arriving at Rimbun Dahan, I found the gardens, trees and surroundings here very interesting and worth exploring. I decided to challenge myself by setting a condition to draw every day from what I see and discover from Rimbun Dahan. This is the origin of the project “What an everyday gives”. I also use this task to bring form, colors, shape etc to further develop into works.
“At the same time, I am continuing to develop my personal project which is interested in the perspective of observing people, their behavior – walking, standing, sitting, lying, talking – and clothing. I find these works evoke a feeling of lack, emptiness, void, imperfection and disappearance. From pencil drawings that represent what can be seen, I combine it with watercolors that represent the way I think about what I see. Because sometimes when we look, there will be parts that we see and don’t see at the same time.
“My work begins with impressions of nature and the observation of everyday life and translates them in an abstract way through form, line and color. At the same time, I express myself in a very realistic way. I use several mediums to build and reconstruct sensations. The observations accumulated day after day have influenced my identity and my work – thinking and speaking in a sincere language to share what I see, observe and feel.”
Indonesian multidisciplinary artist Yosep Arizal undertook a 1-month residency at Rimbun Dahan in August-September 2023, exploring the similarities and differences between Malaysia and Indonesia.
About the Artist
Yosep Arizal graduated from Indonesian Institute of The Art in 2016. His practice mostly discusses genders, history, and their friction with religion, tradition, and cultural identities. Yosep concretizes his aesthetic ideas in various media, such as drawing, painting, installation, video, and performance. His work has been shown in both local and international venues, such as PBSR Swaranusa in Museum and Cultural Centre Jayapura Papua (2014), Jogja Biennale in Jogja National Museum (2019), UOB Painting of The Year in National Museum Jakarta (2019), “Clothing As A State of Power” in Cemeti Institute of The Arts and Society Yogyakarta (2020), Babad Lembana #2 in Sumenep Madura (2022), “Queer-Muslim In Conversation” at the University of Melbourne (2022), ArtJog Motif Lamaran in Jogja National Museum (2023).
In 2021 Yosep was selected as one of grantees of the Arts Innovation & Professional Development Program for Performing Arts Residency, Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiardja, Yogyakarta. In 2022, he was awarded a Seed Award by the Prince Clause Fund, Amsterdam, and was one of the three best young artists who received ArtJog 2023 Young Artist Awards.
About the Residency
“The project I am working on in Rimbun Dahan is about my position as an Indonesian, tourist, and artist who is having a chance to work for about four weeks in Malaysia. As an Indonesian, I found there are so many Indonesia-related things here that make me feel “comfortable” while seeing them, and assure myself that I am not far away from home. As a tourist, I realize that even though there are some similarities between Malaysia and Indonesia but we still have a lot of differences that make me feel alienated, surprised, amazed, and even intrigued by so many things in Malaysia. My position as an artist might trick me to a “stealer” state, who can collect particular things I find here as creative and artistic inspiration for my art practice ,and take them away to Indonesia. Then I came up with the idea of exchanging: before I take some things away I should give and leave something to this place that I brought from Indonesia.”
A day of art and artists, in the 14-acre tropical greenery of Rimbun Dahan, 45 minutes from Kuala Lumpur.
On Sunday 27 August 2023, current resident artists Suhaimi Fadzir (Malaysia), Annabell Ng (Malaysia), Yosep Arizal (Indonesia) and Charuwan Noprumpha (Thailand) will participate in an Open Day at Rimbun Dahan. See schedule and further info below.
Free entry, no registration required.
Schedule
9am-11am: Guided tour of our 14-acre native Southeast Asian arboretum and garden at Rimbun Dahan by Angela Hijjas. Meet at the front gate.
11am-6pm [closed for lunch break 2-3pm]: All artists have open studios — come check out their works and have a chat. Some works are available for sale.
The Rimbun Dahan Underground Gallery will also be open from 9am to 6pm, showing ‘Menagerie’, a selection of works from our Permanent Collection.
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
Charuwan Noprumpha lives and works in Bangkok, Thailand. A graduate with a master’s degree from France (École européenne supérieure d’art de Bretagne-site de Quimper) and the Erasmus Exchange Program at Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe, Germany (Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe), Charuwan received an award from French Cultural Center, Freiburg, Germany from participating in the festival of La Biennale of Young Contemporary Creation, Mulhouse, France. She was selected to participate in the artist residency at Les ateliers du Plessix-Madeuc, Dinan, France. Charuwan has participated by invitation in exhibitions in many countries such as Belgium, France, Germany and Thailand.
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.
Suhaimi Fadzir is an interdisciplinary artist motivated by his non-traditional research-based practice driven by observing history, culture, nature, context, and the intersections between science, art and architecture.He studied art and architecture at Washington University, USA. He has won many art and architecture awards and grants, and exhibited in numerous events worldwide, including the Venice Biennale (Architecture) in 2010, 2012 & 2014, Meiji University Museum, Tokyo, in 2011, the Dublin Biennial in 2012, Art Basel Miami Week, and a solo show organized by Saatchi Gallery London and M&C Saatchi, Kuala Lumpur, in 2013.His hybrid term “Archipainting” refers to a concept he developed in the 1980s blending fine art with the structural intricacies and deconstruction of architecture.
Yosep Arizal graduated from Indonesian Institute of The Art in 2016. His practice mostly discusses about gender, history, and its friction with religion, tradition, and cultural identities. Yosep concretizes his aesthetic idea in various media, such as drawing, painting, installation, video, and performance. His work has been shown in local and international venues such as Jogja Biennale (2019), UOB Painting of The Year (2019), Cemeti Institute (2020), Babad Lembana #2 in Sumenep Madura (2022), “Queer Muslims In Conversation” at University of Melbourne (2022), ArtJog Motif Lamaran in Jogja National Museum (2023). In 2021 Yosep was selected for the Arts Innovation & Professional Development Program for Performing Arts Residency, Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiardja. In 2022 he was awarded a Seed Award from Prince Claus Fund, and the ArtJog Young Artist Awards in 2023.
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.
Author Joel Donato Ching Jacob from the Philippines is a resident author at Rimbun Dahan in July 2023.
Joel Donato Ching Jacob is the novelist who wrote the Scholastic Asian Book Award and Madrigal Gonzalez Best First Book Award winning novel Wing of the Locust and its sequel Orphan Price. He was awarded Ani ng Dangal (Harvest of Honors) in 2021. In the same year, he was a cohort for the Clarion West Summer Writers Workshop. He lives in Bay, Laguna with more dogs than he can manage, plus a cat.
During his residency, Joel is working on the outline for the third and final book in the series.
On Sunday 23 July 2023, current resident artists Rosemainy Buang (Singapore) and Joel Donato Ching Jacob (Philippines) will participate in an Open Day at Rimbun Dahan. See schedule and further info below.
The Rimbun Dahan Underground Gallery will also be open from 9am to 6pm, showing ‘Menagerie’, a selection of works from our Permanent Collection, as well as ekphrastic poetry works by recent resident poet Yee Heng Yeh.
There will be a morning guided tour of our 14-acre site, including a general introduction to the contemporary architecture and our Southeast Asian indigenous garden and arboretum at Rimbun Dahan, as well as the Rumah Uda Manap heritage house.
Free entry, no registration required.
Schedule
9am-11am: Guided tour of Rimbun Dahan, meet in the central plaza. 11am-4:30pm: Rosemainy’s studio open 1.30-2.30pm: Lunch, studios closed, visitors can picnic and walk around gardens 3-4:30pm: Workshop by Joel Donato Ching Jacob in the Underground Gallery 5-6pm: Rosemainy’s closing ritual performance in the Dance Studio
About the Workshop
Joel Donato Ching Jacob, author of the popular young adult novels Wing of the Locust and Orphan Price (published by Scholastic Asia), will explore AI tools that support a writer’s process, from grammar checking to sentence rephrasing, and more.
Joel will also share a work-in-progress amendment to contracts that protects publishers and authors from having their manuscripts fed to an AI Language Model in order to recreate, emulate, or mimic a copyrighted text. This could also be used to protect other forms of art like visual arts, choreography and composition, and even other creations like code.
The workshop is for writers and the general public interested in the application of AI in creative practice. Entry is free.
About the Closing Ritual Performance
Rosemainy Buang, a gamelan musician, educator, composer, and sound artist from Singapore, will weave together a short performance of sound samples she has collected from the gamelan at Rimbun Dahan, around our 14-acre site, as well as in the city of Kuala Lumpur. The performance will take place in the Dance Studio from 5pm, and may be followed by an informal short discussion. Entry is free.
Travelling Directions
Use Waze to drive to Rimbun Dahan: https://waze.com/ul/hw284q6meb Use Google Maps to drive t 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.
Bring your picnic, and enjoy it in the gardens; please clean up all your trash.
No pets, no swimming — thank you for your cooperation.
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.
Joel Donato Ching Jacob is the novelist who wrote the Scholastic Asian Book Award and Madrigal Gonzalez Best First Book Award winning novel Wing of the Locust and its sequel Orphan Price. He was awarded Ani ng Dangal (Harvest of Honors) in 2021. In the same year, he was a cohort for the Clarion West Summer Writers Workshop. He lives in the Philippines, in Bay, Laguna, with more dogs than he can manage, plus a cat.
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.
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.
About the Residency
A space is attached with a unique soundscape and Rose has been absorbing not only sounds in Rimbun Dahan but also in the bandar where she visits different spaces accompanied with music and the community. Having conversations with people around allows her to understand the cultural aspects that come with a space.
Apart from gathering conversations and allowing herself to reflect upon them, Rose has been collecting sound samples not only from the beautiful gamelan here in Rimbun Dahan, but also from around the 14-acre site.
With all these elements gathered and other available mediums that she brings and has access to, Rose aims to create and put together a narration of sounds for her Open Day — a Closing Ritual before she ends her residency, in the hopes her sounds and her stories with everyone.
Ms. Choulay MECH (b. 1992, Kandal Province) lives and works in Phnom Penh. She is an artist, documentary filmmaker, and freelance journalist. Her passion for the job, particularly on environmental and animal rights issues, and she has a sensitivity toward human-interest storytelling.
She trained in journalism with the Cambodian Center for Independent Media. Her reporting has been published in Southeast Asia Globe, Voice of Democracy and CamboJA News. She also contributed reporting to a 2020 article about Cambodian mental health facilities for the Washington Post. She did a nice feature about the changing lives of fishing communities living on floating villages around the country’s biggest lake and river system, Tonle Sap.
She has a strong background in photography and video production as well; she’s had photo exhibitions and completed one-year extensive training in documentary film production at Bophana Audiovisual Resources Center, directing a short film “My Home” about elephant conservation in Mondulkiri, Cambodia. In 2020, she received an award from Creative Generation 4 Awards. The following year, she got four grants: one from Angkor Photo Festival, the second from Citizen Engaged in Environmental Justice for all (CEEJA), the third from SUMERNET for media – research partnership for environment reporting, and the last one it from the Mekong Data-Journalism Fellowship. In 2023, she was selected as an Angkor Photo Festival fellow.
I see dead leaves drop from the trees every morning at Rimbun Dahan. These dead leaves really attracted my eyes because of their unique and original form, colours and textures. I started to wonder, what can I do to transform this dead leaf into a work of art that could speak about the forest and water?
In the day time, I hear the sound of birds chirping, I see the monkeys eating bananas and sharing food with their babies. Squirrels jump around freely and peacefully because no one would harm them. At night, some non-human friends visit me — butterflies, grasshoppers, bats.
Yet, such an oasis is a rare occurrence in the urban world!
Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we can’t eat money – Alanis Obomsawin.
Cambodia used to be covered by lush green forests but now it is overwhelmed by unhealthy development that is impacting the vulnerable people, animals and nature. When we have air we can’t breathe in, fruits we can’t eat, rain that we can’t play in, and water that is undrinkable, sooner and later we will all die. When we lack understanding and knowledge of forest life, it is very hard for us to love and care for the forest. As the Khmer proverb goes “រក្សាទុកព្រៃឈើ អ្នកនឹងមិនខ្វះអុសដុត”, translated as “save the forest and you will not run out of wood fire” — forest is part of the ecosystems that we can’t live without them, but they can live without us. From the beginning to the end, forests are completely useful even when they are dead, they are still useful as nourishment to the earth.
To understand more about human relationship with nature in urbanity, I went to visit the Mah Meri indigenous community to learn about their history and cultural practices. The warm and hospitable Mah Meri indigenous people shared with me generously and brought me to the sea, river and its surrounding mangrove forests which holds great significance to their culture and ritualistic practices. They gifted me with their traditional handicrafts such as crowns, birds and flowers made from wild palm trees unique to their local forest. Along the way from Mah Meri Village to Rimbun Dahan, there are beautiful mountains and green forests alongside tall buildings. Such landscape made me become wishful for Cambodia’s future development, I hope we will be able to develop in a healthy and sustainable way.
Malaysian illustrator Yunroo has joined us for a 1-month residency from April to May. Born into a family that has its roots in the clay industry, she’s currently exploring the artistic side of ceramics; to practice and experiment with different making techniques, understand the characteristics of different types of clay, and experiment with colour pigments and glazes.
With her background in illustration, she wishes to combine her practice with ceramics, and create pottery pieces that not only look and feel contemporary, but also reflect the character of her works, which is strikingly colourful and always with a dash of humour.
About the Artist
Yunroo is an illustrator from Batu Pahat, Malaysia. Drawing inspiration from her Chinese Malaysian identity and the local culture, she infuses her creations with vibrant charm and playful humour. She enjoys exploring different mediums and materials and finds joy in seeing her illustrations come to life in various forms.
Yunroo views art as a powerful medium to connect with people, and is dedicated to sharing her passion with others. She has organised and curated art festivals and events, and has taught at a local art college to help others experience the joy of making and appreciating art.
