Yim Yen Sum (lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) starts her career in arts in 2006 in Dasein Academy of Arts, Malaysia. In 2016, Yim Yen Sum won ‘Painting of The Year’ from United Overseas Bank (UOB). She has been exhibiting in many galleries and art institutions in Malaysia. Her series of works, ‘The Floating Castle’ underlines the complexity of culture ecosystem and the tradition that is fragile and in danger.
Yim Yen Sum shows her interests on the issue on tradition and culture that mostly focus on human relationship within. She joined Kelana Residency Program that brought her to Aceh with some other Indonesian artists. She visited Simeulue, an Island in southern part of Aceh that was ruined by the big tsunami in 2004. She observes how earthquakes and tsunami had effected the life and the mindset of the community, particularly on how the nature phenomenon and experience of disaster had shaped into a fundamental local knowledge, enriched by different memories of the people. She learns, in Simeulue, that knowledge is taught to the next generation from the oral tradition, one of the forms is nafi-nafi. Nafi-nafi usually is practiced by mothers and grandmothers who share its value during bedtime and other various informal occasions.
This piece portrays the hidden feelings of the villagers of Simeulue. She wants to recreate a quiet, peaceful night on the island by using the commonly used mosquito net and a purely white bed. The artwork presents a contrast between the hidden feelings of the Islanders and the peaceful atmosphere that you perceive from the bed scene.
Photo source: star2.com
