After being closed for several months this year, Sabah Art Gallery in Kota Kinabalu has recently started to welcome the public back to its space again, with the interstate travel boom expected to boost its year-end visitor numbers.
There are two on-site exhibitions running concurrently at the art institution, which is the pulse of Sabah's art scene.
The first is Pameran SI Visa, a show organised by Sekolah Indonesia Kota Kinabalu that showcases artworks by students and alumni in Sabah and Sarawak, which will run until Nov 18.
The other show is the 36th Sabah Annual Art Selection 2021, which is a state-wide art selection programme.
This year’s theme is “Gunung Kinabalu” and “Sabah – Norma Baharu”.
Freandy Jose’s pencil work Posogit – Obiyai Koi Noh Oi Aki (Posogit – Ampunilah Kami Wahai Aki) won this year’s Sabah Annual Art Selection. It centres on a ritual to appease the mountain spirits on Mount Kinabalu.
This work refers to the devastating 5.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Mount Kinabalu on June 5, 2015, killing 18 people in its wake.
Selected artworks from this programme will be included in the collection of the Sabah Art Gallery.
The show can also be viewed on the gallery’s new virtual platform.
A virtual dimension
“We are opening up a new chapter by combining art with virtual technology to promote local artworks. We hope to eventually expand the features available and perhaps even sell art on this platform,” says Sara Slisya Ahmad Shah, Sabah Art Gallery’s assistant director for visual arts.
“During the lockdowns, most of our art exhibitions and programmes at the gallery had to be put on hold. But we believe that art must go on and we need to bring art to the people. We have held online exhibitions on our website in the past, but we are taking another step forward in this challenging time," she adds.
In this virtual gallery, visitors can also check out a selection of works from the Sabah Art Gallery collection in the Sabah Maju Jaya 2021 show.
This includes works by Sabahan artists such as Awang Damit Ahmad, Bayu Utomo Radjikin, Caroline Majanil, Kelvin Chao, Matthew Aziz, Richard Lim, Samuel Senabun, Tina Rimmer and Yee I-Lann, among others.
At present, Sabah Art Gallery is gearing up for a retrospective exhibition featuring the works of established artist Christianne Goonting, who has been in the art scene for the past four decades, and is one of the recipients for the Anugerah Khas Tokoh Seni Visual Sabah in 2019.
“A huge contributor to Sabah’s art scene, this marks her 40th year of involvement in art. She has been a big part of Sabah Art Gallery since 1985,” says Sara.
The Christianne Goonting Retrospective Exhibition will open this month and run until February 2022.
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