Instructions for Starting Anew Elsewhere

EXHIBITIONS
Unfold, curated by Kristy Scaddan, 2024
Midland Junction Arts Centre
Part of the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial 2024

A wooden casket inspired by the Malay Tepak Sireh, usually a metal vessel with ingredients for the chewing of betel leaves, is often exchanged and offered between guests and hosts as a sign of welcome, humility and trust. It cradles tablets inscribed with whispers of trans-generational wisdom—voices of ancestors, cautionary tales for wanderers, and reminders of the delicate dance between humanity and the natural world – seen and unseen. Each tablet serves as a vessel for stories passed down through ages, urging a life of respect towards the flora, fauna, human, and chthonic spirits that shape our journey in a new land. This work is a prayer to and for the quiet guardians of our travels, inviting us to honour those who came before us, who pray for us from afar, they who dwell among us unseen, and to tread lightly as guests. It is a reminder that every step taken in a foreign place should be one of humility and gratitude, for we are but fleeting guests in a place that is very much alive in ways we cannot fully comprehend.