Artist siblings Amirul Azmir and Alyssa Azmir’s site-specific art installation, SEED Perdu Buloh, has been swept away by the recent flood in Ulu Dong, Raub in Pahang.
Among the youngest participants in this year’s National Art Gallery’s Young Contemporaries award (or Bakat Muda Sezaman - BMS), Amirul and Alyssa are 21 and 17 years old, respectively.
They set up this installation after being inspired by their mother’s pop-up school of the same name, where children from the community in the Ulu Dong are given free English lessons.
This school was set up last year, when schools were closed during the pandemic.
“This artwork was installed inside the area of the school, beside the small river and surrounded by bamboo shrubs, fallen leaves and logs. It was completed last month. But the flood has destroyed the installation as well as the school. It also affected their homes and there is no water and electricity. Together with the other villagers, they are now temporarily staying at the surau of the adjacent village,” says Intan Rafiza, one of the curators of BMS2021.
SEED stands for Self-Empowered Education and Development.
“Our artwork, which combines 3D replicas and an audiovisual montage, will carry the audience through the journey of tapping into the potential of the surrounding resources, from just a ‘seed’ of an idea.
"In order for learning to happen, you do not need fancy facilities or structured curriculum. All you need to make it happen is a passionate teacher and eager student. Both of which Ulu Dong has plenty of,” according to the artist statement for the SEED Perdu Buloh installation.
At present, the young artists are cleaning up the flood damage and salvaging parts of the installation.
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