Impressions of the indigenous
Young artist’s portrait exhibition documents contemporary indigenous names and traditions.
IF you step into the Centre for Malaysian Indigenous Studies (CIMS) in Kuala Lumpur, you’ll be treated to a series of portraits representing contemporary Malaysian indigenous names from the arts, music and social activist circles.
For those who like landscape studies, there are also canvasses depicting jungle ritual spaces and towering trees in Sarawak.
These portraits and landscapes may seem very different, but they’re both parts of a single exhibition, and both the series of Sarawakian-born British-trained artist Brandon Ritom. His show Portrait Conversation x Menua Kitai at CIMS is an attempt to capture the people and places around him, and to document encounters and conversations.
Ritom, 29, specialises in figurative and plein air landscape painting. He says the exhibition came about as a result of his project research at CIMS. He previewed some of his portraits at the CIMS show Voices Of The People: An Exhibition Of Indigenous Languages Of Malaysia in September.
“This solo exhibition is partly organised to showcase the end result of various projects I’ve undertaken over the past year. It’s also a means for me to gather together all my various works, ” says Ritom, who was born in Miri.
“Each transcript from the (portrait) sessions has accompanying text. So we have about 21 paintings, portraits and landscapes, each with their own personal story.”
This exhibition in the CIMS bungalow space is divided into two parts: the first Portrait Conversation features 13 portraits of noted orang asli and orang asal creatives. These include Temuan artist and activist Shaq Koyok (whose portrait is titled Temiar Lawan), Bidayuh researcher/artist Kendy Mitot (Pak Sigar Gawea), Kalimantan Dayak traditional dancer Petrisia C (Dayung Kalbar) and Kelabit/english-italian musician Alena Murang (Alena Murang).
Ritom, who has Iban/bidayuh roots, says most of the portraits were drawn after a series of oneto-three hour portrait sessions.
His favourite portrait in the collection, however, is one of the Semai band Luhiew Sahi Soul, which performed at the George Town Festival this year.
The second part of the exhibition is called Menua Kitai (“our land” in Iban language). It comprises eight natural landscape studies, mostly featuring rural places or rituals with a connection to the indigenous peoples and culture. Some works feature commentary on the effects of over-development in these communities.
These include Engkabang ,a work depicting the engkabang trees of Borneo, and Puja Pantai, Pulau Carey, which showcases a Mah Meri ancestor’s day celebration. For spirit world tradition, Bawal Gawea Nguguoh Kpg Raso depicts a bamboo (stage) platform used for Bidayuh Gawai rituals.
“Native ancestral lands have often been at the forefront of conflict over ownership, usage, and appropriation. They are intimately tied with rite and ritual, and represent the livelihood and very identity for many indigenous groups. Encroaching development in their territory therefore is not merely a material conflict, but one of spiritual and psychic significance,” he says.
Ritom hopes his exhibition will encourage people to be more conscious of Malaysian indigenous culture and voices.
“There’s a lot of ‘exoticising’ elements that go on, and certain perceptions towards us. But I hope this helps with our visibility: show people that we are around, and we have our own stories to tell,” he concludes.
Portrait Conversation x Menua Kitai is on at the Centre for Malaysian Indigenous Studies, No. 11, Jalan 16/4 in Kuala Lumpur till Dec 8. Entrance is free. Open: 11am to 6pm every day except Sunday. For more information, email ritom.art@gmail.com or Facebook: “Atelierbrandonritom”.