This Malaysian art exhibition offers ways to inspire next generation gardeners

Shia's 'Pioneers' (oil on canvas, 2021), a work from her 'Planting Dreams: In Search Of A Good Gardener' exhibit at Rimbun Dahan in Selangor this month. Photo: Shia Yih Yiing

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now," goes the Chinese proverb.

Artist Shia Yih Yiing's Planting Dreams: In Search Of A Good Gardener, a project that combines artistic ecological research and collaborative art-making, best reflects the spirit of the proverb.

The Kuching, Sarawak-born artist shares her findings, including new artworks, at Rimbun Dahan, an art centre located in Kuang, Selangor. They will be on display until Jan 23.

Shia's latest solo exhibition features 35 artworks, two animation videos and a paper chess set (with plants as chess pieces). It also captures the artist's philosophical and environmental thoughts, with observations on changing landscapes, and meditations on indigenous species.

Throughout her 30-year career as an artist, Shia has been portraying the world around her through vivid visual stories, imaginative characters (portraits of family members and friends) juxtaposed with the subjects that inspire her. Her work delves into themes of femininity, motherhood, and is often imbued with a sense of playfulness and metaphor.

At Rimbun Dahan, visitors can learn about Shia's project combines artistic ecological research and collaborative art-making. Photo: Shia Yih Yiing

The Planting Dreams exhibition reconnects to Mother Earth and its messages regarding nature's healing process are timely.

The project began with a series of public workshops exploring the concept of the "Tree Of Life".

Thirteen workshops were conducted between Dec 2020 to July 2021 (five on-site/eight online workshops), with 125 participants on board.

“In these empowerment workshops, I used a plant branch that has roots, stems, leaves and flowers to represent one person. We looked at where it came from, what are its strengths and weaknesses... basically, the workshop was designed in seeing individuals as gardeners in lifelong self management,” shares Shia, 55, in a recent interview.

Shia Yih Yiing's 'Junglewalker' (oil on canvas, 2018-2021). Photo: Shia Yih Yiing

The participants’ drawings were then rendered as a 2D animation video, which is now part of the exhibition.

This was followed by a month-long residency at Rimbun Dahan in December 2020 where Shia conducted preliminary fieldwork and learned from Angela Hijjas (Rimbun Dahan co-founder) and the gardeners of the 5.6ha garden there.

“Rimbun Dahan is important to me because it’s a planted forest... nearly 30 years old. So, there are different levels of trees here. What I did was I followed Angela and observed what she did. How she collected herbarium, how she did her database, the routes she took during her walks,” recalls Shia.

The next phase of the Planting Dreams project was to study the ecological and social realities of life for communities in Sarawak's rural areas. The plan was to visit several villages in Sarawak and learn about useful and precious plants from the villagers.

Visitors are encouraged to interact with some of the artist's findings at the exhibition. Photo: Shia Yih Yiing

But the pandemic situation meant Shia couldn’t travel. Between May and July 2021, when travel restrictions were eased, Shia - who was in Sarawak at the time - managed to conduct a series of short visits and day trips to national parks and the Bidayuh districts of Lundu, Bau, and Padawan. She also spent time with the villagers of Kampung Nyegol at Bengoh Dam to learn about their reforestation efforts.

“I did some research to determine who was supporting this effort, which led me to a wilding nursery. I made contact with them in order to learn more about the species they planted. This reforestation site appeared to be ideal for my mini forest concept,” says Shia.

Unable to pursue her original plans for Planting Dreams, Shia decided to change plans.

She was inspired by the "mini forest" method which was developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the 1980s.

“He discovered that when you plant different treelets together, they will conserve water and compete for light, causing them to grow much faster,” says Shia.

The paper chess set shows the battle between different plant species. Photo: Shia Yih Yiing

The idea was for 17 villagers from Kampung Nyegol to each plant a sapling (four nurse species and 13 climax species) within an allocated grid. Unfortunately, the country went under lockdown again in August. With another project disrupted, Shia decided to pack her bags and returned to KL with her limited findings.

She proceeded to work on the new artworks at her home studio in Jinjang, Kepong (Kuala Lumpur) in the following months and applied for another residency at Rimbun Dahan in December last year where she continued working on the showcase.

During this period, Shia came up with the paper chess set, an ingenious way of showing the battle between native climax forest species and foreign exotic pioneer species of trees. Visitors are encouraged to play this chess set to see how humans are consuming the forest.

Once the Rimbun Dahan show is over, Shia plans to convert the exhibit (digitally) and visit the villages in Sarawak to collect plants, as per her original plan.

Shia Yih Yiing's 'Miss Nature V' (oil on canvas, 2021), a work from her 'Planting Dreams: In Search Of A Good Gardener' exhibit at Rimbun Dahan in Selangor this month. Photo: Shia Yih Yiing

“I also plan to bring this mini forest project to my neighbourhood and collaborate with the people there. It’s a good spot to start,” she reveals.

Ultimately, for Shia, the aim of her project is stated in the exhibit's subtitle – in search of a good gardener.

“I want to inspire people to be not only caretakers of nature but also those who can organise and nurture a better society. If a person is empowered, they can lead. If you can lead yourself positively, you can influence others.

"It’s like a ripple effect. It starts from your family, and then your community and then the whole nation,” Shia concludes.

Planting Dreams: In Search Of A Good Gardener is on at Rimbun Dahan until Jan 23. Open days: Jan 15 and 16 and Jan 22 and 23. All other days/times by appointment only. Registration info here.