Watch: a mighty tiger leaps into artist Chang Yoong Chia’s new batik works

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There is a dramatic account in German naturalist and explorer Fedor Jagor’s Singapore, Malaysia, Java. Reiseskizzen 1866 publication about tigers sneaking up on the coolies arduous at work within the gambir plantations of Malaya.

“It is the Chinese on these plantations who are so often killed by tigers. When the coolie crouches almost naked in the dense bushes to pick the leaves, the tiger sneaks up on him from behind and usually kills him with a bite on the neck,” Jagor wrote.

Contemporary artist Chang Yoong Chia’s new batik paintings, Gambir And The Tiger, captures this scene completely, of a ferocious tiger leaping on an unsuspecting man, and sinking its enamel into his neck.

It is a part of his new batik collection, which he’s presently engaged on.

After relocating from Kuala Lumpur to Tangkak in Johor, Chang, a educated painter, has been reflecting on the small city’s agricultural historical past and plantations.

Chang Yoong Chia's 'Gambir And The Tiger' (batik, 2022) is one of the new batik works that will be included in an exhibition this year. Photo: MingChangChang Yoong Chia’s ‘Gambir And The Tiger’ (batik, 2022) is among the new batik works that might be included in an exhibition this yr. Photo: MingChang

Initially, the 46-year-old had anticipated to see gambir bushes (Uncaria gambir) in Johor because it had huge gambir plantations prior to now and Malaya was as soon as the most important exporter of gambir on this planet.

“I thought at the very least I could see some surviving by the roadside or in someone’s garden. But to my surprise, I found none except a few trees that were imported recently from Indonesia that were planted in a Chinese school compound for education purposes,” he says.

Chang factors out that tigers was regularly sighted in Johor and tiger assaults on gambir plantation employees have been a recurring phenomenon.

“It was even mentioned in The Malay Archipelago by (British naturalist) Alfred Russel Wallace. I am so fascinated by this because things that were so physical and tangible – like the tiger and gambir – have almost disappeared from our country and from our consciousness. Therefore, I made the artwork of a tiger attacking a gambir plantation worker, hoping to somehow reignite the imagination for our country’s past,” he shares.

British Malaya was once the biggest exporter of gambir in the world. Photo: MingChangBritish Malaya was as soon as the most important exporter of gambir on this planet. Photo: MingChang

Chang’s new batik works additionally got down to query the floral and butterfly motifs generally present in Malaysian batik.

In reflecting on the agriculture business and money crop plantations within the nation, he hopes to look past these motifs as mere ornament.

“I want to explore these motifs as a way to understand the history of cash crop plantations in this country. It is a glimpse into the landscape of profit, invasion, colonialism, exploitation and ecosystem, as well as migration, setting down roots and preserving traditions,” he notes.

An exhibition that includes these batik works is deliberate for the second quarter of the yr.



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