Happy Malaysia Day! So much emotions to unpack today while I reveal these pieces. These three new artworks were created from soil gathered from East and West Malaysia.
I've been working on this project since Nov 2020, when Alvin Teoh, son of Malaysian war veteran, Major Andrew, contacted me asking if I’d want to create artworks to be shown in a documentary about Malaysian war veterans. One of my missions as an artist is to tell stories, especially meaningful ones about history, culture and heritage, so of course I said yes.
From the start, we knew that soil would be the main material to symbolise land that was fought for. Admittedly, there was a lot I didn't know about that the war and the vets - about the pain and reality of war, how it affected their families and lives, and their deep love for the country. I got to meet two vets in person before lockdown, and the rest I met through Zoom. I was also deeply touched by how there were so many Malaysians of various backgrounds who fought for our country - of all races, beliefs, backgrounds, and of Malaysians from East and West Malaysia. Swipe to see a sneaky screenshot I took of them.
As a Sabahan (East Malaysian), I hope these artworks and this documentary will also present East Malaysians as an equal to the West. That is the symbolism of gathering soil from both East and West Malaysia. The documentary will be shown tonight on Astro at 9pm (GMT + 8 ) on Channel 100. Happy Malaysia Day. ❤
///
Project credits:
Artist: Red Hong Yi
Fabricator: Huak Huak (Chuah Chong Yong, Foo Chee wee, Cheong Siew wei, Arman Simanjuntak)
Red’s art team: Chee Chung Leong (project lead), Waichun Yan, Esmond Sit, Kaiyi Wong, Kashinie Subramaniam, Shir Yee Sun, Shen Phang Lim, HuiQi Chan.
Videography: Chong Kern Wei
Photography: Aaron Wong, Annice Lyn
Production by Naga DDB and Mojo Films.
Apprentices supported under the @cendanamalaysia Apprenticeship Programme in Collaboration with Studio Red Hong Yi
///
