Applications are now open for Rimbun Dahan’s Southeast Asian Residency and the Hotel Penaga Residency for 1 January to 30 June 2017!
RIMBUN DAHAN SOUTHEAST ASIAN ARTS RESIDENCY
We invite visual artists (of all disciplines), writers, arts managers, and researchers/curators from and based in Southeast Asian countries to submit applications for the period of 1 January to 30 June 2017. Residencies can range from 1 to 6 months. Please check the residency page on our website for details on the residency itself, eligibility criteria, and how to apply. Applicants are advised to read the information carefully to avoid any confusion in their application process. All applications must be received by 30 June 2016.
Notes
Interested artists NOT from and based in Southeast Asia are eligible for our Open Residency Program, which has rolling applications
Applications for residencies between 1 July to 31 December 2017 will open at the end of the year in 2016. Keep up with announcements via our Facebook or our mailing list
HOTEL PENAGA RESIDENCY
Applications are now open for Hotel Penaga’s Residency Program in 2017! We invite Southeast Asian visual artists to submit applications for the period of 1 January – 30 June 2017. Residencies can range from 1 to 3 months. Please check the residency page on our website for details on the residency itself, eligibility criteria, and how to apply. Applicants are advised to read the information carefully to avoid any confusion in their application process. All applications must be received by 30 June 2016!
Notes
The Hotel Penaga residency is also open to non-Southeast Asian artists, but these artists are subject to a monthly fee and are not eligible for any financial support from Rimbun Dahan
This residency is only open to artists working in the visual field – painting, illustration and drawing, textile art, printmaking, sculpture, etc. Artists in other fields are eligible for Rimbun Dahan’s Southeast Asian Arts Residency and Open Residency
Applications for residencies between 1 July to 31 December 2017 will open at the end of the year in 2016. Keep up with announcements via our Facebook or our mailing list
Dryobalanops aromatica kapor Sumatra, Rhiau, Borneo. In Malaya confined to northern east coast, except for small important area near Rawang. Distinguished by aromatic crushed leaf, wood resistant to fungal attack.
Latin, lanceolatus = shaped like the head of a spear (the leaf blade). Emergent tree to 80m. Endemic in Borneo. Saplings shade tolerant, but given a light gap grow very fast. Norsham 5.13. D. lanceloata on left, specimen on right seems to be D. keithii, with very large leaves and different tree architecture.
Previous images:
Images from September 2022:
Dryobalanops lanceolata barkDryobalanops lanceolata front leavesDryobalanops lanceolata back leaves
Dryobalanops oblongifolia Dyer keladan Malaya, e Sumatra, w & centr Borneo, seasonally flooded forest, but absent in deep peat. Used to build boats. Vulnerable due to habitat loss. Large canopy trees, bark closely studded w/small lenticels, heavy wingless fruits. Seed c 2.5 cm enclosed at base by 5-lobed calyx tube.2 new speciments June 2008, pictured below right.
In 2012, Malaysian artist Azam Aris (also known as Helmi Azam B. Tajol Aris) underwent a year-long residency at Rimbun Dahan, working both on paintings and three-dimensional work. On August 5 2015, his solo exhibition YEAH opened at HOM Art Trans and was officiated by Angela Hijjas. The text of her speech is below.
Killer On The Road (Storm), 2015 Acrylic on canvas, 156 x 162 cm
Thanks to HoM for the invitation to speak tonight at the opening of Azam Aris’ new works. I would like to take the opportunity, first of all, to express my appreciation for all that HoM, the House of MataHati, has done over the years in supporting young artists by giving them an opportunity to mix with a broad range of people and influences, and to explore new ideas in a very supportive environment.
I first met Azam when he participated in our Art for Nature exhibitions, where his quirky clocks were always a huge hit with visitors and collectors. He used battery operated clock hands to animate his figures in weird and wonderful ways.
I got to know Azam a little better when he was a resident artist at Rimbun Dahan in 2012, and became very familiar with the works he made at that time. His show at Rimbun Dahan was a great success and he contributed significantly towards our programme. I’m sure too he benefited from the joint experience he shared with the Australian artist, Jonathan Nichols, with whom he staged an exhibition with us in early 2013.
The current works on display tonight are a surprisingly intense distillation of that past practice in which he explored the supernatural and the extra terrestrial, with a cunning insight into Malay culture and its superstitions and our quite natural fear of the unknown.
The figures in this new body of work have completely lost the individual quirkiness of his earlier works, and are repeated to such an extent that one is forced to look very carefully to search for what Azam is trying to say: individuality and personality are squeezed out by the sheer force of numbers, and the density of his compositions is relieved only by the lightest of variations… could all this be a reflection of the current atmosphere in our beloved Tanah Air? Who are these people and where are all these figures going? How indeed are they going to move with the fluidity of his mechanical hands, arousing the magic of the bomoh and the waving of a magic kris? A few individuals in the mass manage to wave in desperation or jubilation, like drowning victims or audience members at a rock concert, but they retain the look of the ultimate selfie…. Repeat repeat repeat, losing their individuality at the expense of the instant gratification of a self styled and posed photo of how we want the world to see us… but unfortunately no one is looking, no one is going to see one small figure and find it remarkable, only in the massing is there something remarkable that has an energy that a single figure cannot accomplish.
I can’t help but infer some political message in these massed figures: here we are, all crammed together, lacking any capacity to make decisions and shape our own destiny, wandering like a herd, waiting for a leader to organize us into a rational and responsible machine. The energy and numbers are there but is it fear of the unknown that makes us reluctant to take the next step? In a society that has known nothing else for over half a century it is always hard to see a different way ahead, but there is indeed a different road, and I hope that Azam’s figures work it out soon!
I doubt if I spoke to Azam about this he would say that he had any political agenda with these works, but in the light of these dark times it is hard to ignore. He has looked at the dark side before in his Republic Sulap works, where mad scientists manipulated weird machines against a backdrop of outer space, and Malay bomohs looked blindly on creation while mouthing unintelligible incantations; but with these works tonight I wonder if I am looking at some insoluble image that I have to stare at until it coalesces into an understanding that once made can never be forgotten, and inevitably the thought occurs to me that with today’s preoccupations with corruption at the very core and at every level of our society perhaps we are all complicit, every single self that is replicated repeatedly… we have stood aside for so long that we no longer have any capacity to act. I certainly hope that this isn’t the case.
The enormous changes that the Malays particularly have had to cope with in the last 40 years have not been strong on cultural and political development. Instead the changes that were wrought by education and urbanization, by leaving life in the kampong and substituting it with life in a condo have proved to be a little empty. Pursuing the dream of comfort, convenience and security in the modern world is not an end in itself, we still need a sense of purpose; and then technology stepped in with another promise: use your iPhone and experience the world, be a part of everything, in effect be a cog in the elaborate plot of buying and consuming the latest technology; but in the end it will not change your life at all. To do that we still need our individuality and our own powers to think and act.
We have the magic of instant communication at every moment to every corner of the world, our selfies plaster our self-awareness with a sense of accomplishment that is no more real than the bomoh’s incantations. We have been hoodwinked into thinking that we have an intrinsic importance that repeated images surely validate: but communication should be a means to an end, not an end in itself, and I think these works are a poignant reminder that we are in danger of being hoodwinked ourselves.
Thank you, Azam, for these works, and for inviting me this evening, and I hope this show will give all of us the impetus to be more than just a cog in a machine.
Architect and former University of Adelaide student Hijjas Kasturi outside Bonython Hall, one of the University’s many heritage buildings. Photo by David Ellis, from The Adelaidean website of the University of Adelaide.
In 2013, The University of Adelaide recognised significant contribution to the advancement of the University’s Alumni Relations Program by awarding Hijjas Kasturi an Alumni Fellow. The Vice-Chancellor and President and the Chief Engagement Officer presented the Alumni Fellow Award to Encik Hijjas at the University of Adelaide’s 140th Malaysian Alumni Anniversary celebration on 10 September 2014.
Malesia, exc. Java & Lesser Sundas, shrub to 3m with radially symmetrical flowers in sessile or shortly stalked clusters. Common throughout Malaya, lowland primary forest below 300m., sometimes on limestone & freshwater swamps.
Tropical and sub tropical. From Turkestan to NSW. 2 spp in Malaya, both rare. Tall dioecious trees. Resin used for incense & for medicine, Bark and leaves for tonic after child birth, and used as febrifuge. This sp distinguished by glands scattered under leaflet.
Java, Borneo, Philippines. Small trees, twigs glabrous, rachis distinctly winged (Lat. alata). Mainly cultivated in villages on east coast.
Lepisanthes rubiginosa kelat layu, mertajam
Small white fragrant flowers, fruit ripening from yellow, red, purple, to black. Common in K. Baru.
Mischocarpus sundaicus
sugi
Common on sandy coasts, islands & estuaries or coastal swamps. India to Australia. Small tree to 6m, bushy crown. Young leaves pinkish and edible. Fr Tunas Harapan 6.2012.
Sumatra, Java, Malaya. Lowland forest.To 30m tall, 3-7 prs leaflets. Fruits slightly flattened ellipsoid. Lat. leaves like the walnut Juglands.
Nephelium mutabile
pulasan
Like rambutan, but leaflets narrower, dark glossy green above, pale & glaucous beneath. Crimson to purple fruit with blunt fleshy spines. Pulp pale yellow, separates cleanly from seed.
Pometia pinnata kasai
Sri Lanka, Andamans, S. China. Malesia. Leaf margins dentate, every other secondary nerve ending in a tooth. Spreading crown. Three forms recognised, edible fruits, young red foliage.
Pometia ridleyi
kasia daun licin
Malaya, Sumatra. Perak, Pahang, NS, Selangor. Large trees to 50 m. Boles with 2 m buttresses, bark dippled brown. Primary forests, hill slopes, by streams. Leaf secondary veins sunken above, looping up without ending at the margins under.
Xerospermum laevigatum Radlk.
rambutan pacat, gong
Burma, Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo. Lat. smooth. Syn. with X. acuminatum Radlk. Lowland forest. To 30m, leaflets opposite, monoecious. Flesh around seed is edible, pulped stone/leaves are used to alleviate stomach ache.1 from TH 11/09.
Xeropspermum noronhianum Bl.
rambutan pacat, kikir buntal
2 spp, Bangladesh-Indo China. Common in low lying forest in Malaya. To 25m, leaves w/1/2/3 prs opposite leaflets; flat glands above axis of veins or scattered over leaf. Fruit yellow. 2 specimens June 2008.
Flacourtia rukam Previously family Flacourtiaceae rukam
Difficult family to define because of minute variations in flower structure. Scattered throughout Malaya in rain forest, occasionally cultivated. Fruits edible, made more palatable by rubbing between the hands, but best cooked.
India, Burma, Siam, Malaya. Common on rocky and sandy coasts from Penang northward and all east coast. Thorns and notched leaf tip distinguish it from Suregada sp. In habit looks much like Citrus, leaves standing obliquely erect.
Burkillanthus malaccensis
I H Burkill, 1870- 1965, director Singapore Botanic Gardens. Small tree to 12m, one sp in Malaya & Sumatra. Large fruits, thin peel rough with oil glands. Fr Rimba Ilmu 2011.
Citrus aurantiifolia var. microcarpa
limau kasturi
Up to 4m. small fruits used for juice. These planted in memory of Hj. Kasturi Hj. Idris.
Citrus hystrix
limau purut
Leaf blade 1 -2″ long, almost as wide, slightly toothed: leaf stalk widely winged, as to appear like the other half of a blade divided in two. Fruit has wrinkled skin, used for ritual bathing. Rind used in ubat jamu to drive away evil spirits, worms in children and headache. Leaf an essential ingredient in cooking.
Citrus sp.
limau purut
This unidentified hybrid is more hardy than the common limau purut, but retains the strong pungency of leaves and fruit, and produces excellent juice.
Clausena excavata semeruIndia, S. China, Malesia, common especially to north and at edge of forest. Small tree, laxly branched and spreading, branches ending in tassels of long slender leaves. Crushed twigs have a nauseous smell of resin & lime, loose bunches of pink or whitish berries.
Glycosmis pentaphylla kemotak, kenapehCommon village shrub from Perak & Kuantan to north. Sprawling evergreen, crushed leaves smell lemony. Small white flowers, axillary panicles. Fruit edible & sweet but resinous.
Limonia acidissima
belinggai, gelinggai
India, Burma. Common in Perlis villages, needs monsoonal climate to fruit, slow growth and fruiting, brown pulp edible but resinous.
Triphasia trifolia
limau kingkip, bird lime
Philippines, China? Indifferent fruit, but used to be boiled by Malays in sugar syrup. Useful small timber, good for hedging.
Malaya, Andamans, Sumatra, Borneo. Througout Malaya, lowland to mountain forest, also on limestone. Showy fragrant inflorescence. Two planted on corners of plaza 07.
Anthocephalus chinensis kelempayan, kelampai
Deciduous monopodial to 30m, stiff outstanding limbs, drooping at ends. Common in secondary forest & on river banks. Branches in alternating pairs like mangosteen. Minute seeds, <1mm. Flowers in stalked round bur-like heads, but each flower separate from others.
Gardenia carinata mentiong Kedah
Thailand, throughout Malaya, common in north. Small tree to 15m. Leaves obovate, lower surface hairy. Flowers solitary or clustered, calyx tube shields a third of the corolla tube.
Gardenia pterocalyx
mentiong
Small tree found in swampy habitat, at Tasek Bera, gelam forest in Trengganu and at G. Ulu Kali. Calyx tube with 7-10 narrow wings, fruits with wings down from calyx cup.
Gardenia tubifera mentiong
Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Thailand. Throughout Malaya in lowland and hill forests. Terminalian branching, shoots often resinous. Flowers solitary, calyx tube truncate, corolla tube length variable, opens white turning orange. Fruits split to expose seeds in orange pulp.
Gardenia tubifera, with the distinctive scent of the genus, flowers prolifically but for just a week, and by the time I took the photo the tree was well past its best.
Ixora scortechinii
pecah periok/piring/pasu, jenjarum
120 spp, generally tropical, 20 spp in Malaya. Flowers in clusters at branch ends, long corolla tube, 4 spreading petals. Attracts butterflies. 2 new specimens December 2007.
Timonius wallichianus
triang, silver timon
Sumatra, Banka, Riouw, Anambas. In secondary lowland forest up to 500m. Lower leaf surface completely covered by silvery appressed hairs. Flowers unisexual, plants dioecious. 160 spp from Sri Lanka to Pacific, 14 spp in Malaya.
