Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Consuming, exotic, poor

Raw, fragile, vulnerable

Spirit, soul, the Jugni in my life

In these photographs you’re archived

for me to remember, to remember

how you’ve taught me

the shortness of breath, the shortness of life, the shortness of time

*photographs on exhibit at SCYA’s Open House till 11th November.

**Jugni means Firefly in Punjabi/Urdu

Punching above one’s own weight

When I first read that Former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said that Singapore cannot punch above its own weight and must rely on foreign talent in order to keep their jobs, I felt a pinch. I thought about the number of lower waged migrants, elderly and women who have gone into the workforce because the government encouraged it and how they would feel what he said. I don’t think that Singaporeans are not doing enough for the nation, some of us have obediently listened to the state leaders and moved forward to progress. More importantly, while there are a large pool unhappy over the number of jobs going to Employment Pass Holders and S-Pass holders, we’ve learnt to live within our means and work hard at surviving.

Former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew went on to say, “For some time, the Singaporean has felt the competition from talented foreigners. But these are people who have come here to become our citizens and I am a firm believer that the more talent that you have in a society, the better the society will grow.”

There is so much to extrapolate from this statement. Firstly, Singaporeans felt the competition because the state opened up it’s gates to ‘foreign talent’ not too long ago. And the foreign talents in MM’s eyes does not include work permit holders who are the real working-class talents doing the ground work. Singaporeans did not ask for it but it was decided upon for us. We had to gulp it down and move forward.

When he said that these are people who have come here to become citizens, not all of them eventually turn into citizens. I’ve known many Malaysians who were born in Singapore, served NS yet hold a PR status. When asked why the delay in picking up citizenship, I get mixed responses – family in Malaysia or not bothered about the citizenship interview they have to attend. Goes to tell you that becoming citizens is not a given for everyone. I have a close friend who holds an Australian passport and an Employment Pass holder here, he said that having the freedom to go back to his country is comforting and besides, he does not quite understand Singapore yet. He was puzzled to know that foreigners are given better treatment in Singapore than locals. He said most often than not, he feels the xenophobia is directed towards lower waged foreigners who don’t get a chance to pick up citizenship in Singapore. In fact, they are at the losing end of things.

LKY went on to say that he’s a film believer of talent, which I agree with as well. Look at the number of undergraduates in Singapore and you’ll find there is a lot of them lacking opportunities. Most of them wish to take post-graduate studies but without working experience, they cannot apply for one. Which is a given solution to a problem and one would think employment is the answer. They’re facing a lack of opportunities and the type of work given to undergrads these days are contract based. How can they develop their talent without first experiencing working life?  Talents have to be developed and there is a starting point. Where else will they find these starting points if not here?

Like LKY, I too believe talent is crucial for a society to grow. In fact, we do need these talents in Singaporean politics too as we see more changes to the system. But when it comes to commenting on foreign talents and their commitment to Singapore, the ruling party was quick to point out Worker’s Party’s Chen Show Mao about his loyalties. It struck me as odd when he did his NS here and went to Singaporean schools. My view is that Chen Show Mao is in fact punching above his own weight. If there is a foreign talent fitted for this society, I’d point to CSM.

Walk in Mountbatten with the Singapore Contemporary Young Artists (SCYA)

I’ve never lived in Mountbatten before. I don’t know the place as much as I knew Macpherson, Simei, Toa Payoh or Bedok where I have lived throughout my childhood and adult life. What struck me was the old-school styled buildings that I used to live in as a child growing up onBalam Roadin Macpherson. The6 to 8storey buildings are the highest ones I would see back then as compared to the 22 storey building I used to live in Toa Payoh in my secondary school days.

Mountbatten was close to the Goodman Arts Centre where SCYA will officially build its nest come October this year. In the meantime, several members of the group wrote in to the National Arts Council on a project about going green. To start things off, the group decided to talk to residents living in Mountbatten about the project and find out how do they incorporate green living in their everyday tasks.

We spoke to five individuals from various backgrounds – an elderly couple, an elderly woman, a young Filipino man, a young Chinese woman. We asked questions about how do they recycle and they’d show us some of the things they do. Two of the people we spoke to are foreigners living and working here. They were fortunate to have a place in Mountbatten to reside in because most Singaporeans would find memorable objects in this neighbourhood that reminds them of their childhood which cannot be found in the new estates they live in now.

I didn’t lose much time when I saw the playground with the dragon motif and sand. I went straight for the tyre swings. I felt like a giant trumping into a small town, the swing could not fit me. Or rather, I could not fit myself into the seat. Whilst door knocking, I noticed the minimal style door designs and objects which were familiar to me that I cannot see around me anymore in the current estate I live in. I took photos to help me remember the good ol’ days.

 

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Open house? Shopping mall? Frank Sinatra? Where am I!

My first biennale experience started from the Old Kallang Airport where I was involved as an artist in Martha Rosler’s Community Garden project. There were initial challenges working on the community garden with Martha. There were no gardening tools or a budget to buy materials. The grass was not cut which makes it difficult to do work on it. Eventually, work got done but not after sorting out issues with landscaping companies of which I heard from a fellow artist that the foreign workers they hired were not paid wages. A familiar tinge of disappointment arose in me. I knew something like this is not uncommon as I have read many stories about foreign workers not paid their due wages.  

To understand the Biennale better, I went online to read the synopses and check out interviews of  artists on Youtube. I first accessed interviews of curators, Trevor Smith and Matthew Ngui, to find out what do they mean by ‘Open House’. Trevor Smith described the National Museum as a ‘mall’ with the high ceilings, modern architecture and generous amount of light flowing in. I was amazed at his description. How could a museum be compared to a mall? I never want my experience in a museum to be a close approximation of shopping in a mall. In fact, Trevor should take a leaf from Shoosie Sulaiman who said (in a video interview) you have to give ‘food to your soul’ and money does not help you achieve that. I quite liked Shoosie’s work in House of Sulaiman and Ah Guat’s Shop. Her use of memories and her interactions with an old Malaysian woman, Ah Guat, was something I can connect to. Her concept of interacting with memories and history of one’s elders is imminently close to the idea of an open house where an individual like me who is a complete stranger to the artist finds a welcoming invitation to come into her space and explore the private information of her life.  

Trevor added that the idea of ‘Open House’ is the exchanges people have with art. I had no issues of what he said until I experienced the work of Louie Cordero at the Singapore Art Museum. A trained comic artist, his installation work is about the murders in the Philippines where karaoke singers who sung ‘My Way’ by Frank Sinatra were slain. Apparently the reasons are that it was not sung in the right tune. Louie made figures of men with pointed items poked into them and placed a karaoke machine with ‘My Way’ playing in the background. I thought to myself that this piece makes me feel like I’ve entered a strange place where someone’s memory of an event is played out repetitively. I didn’t think the work spoke to me because I felt the intention of murdering those karaoke singers were senseless. But I thought perhaps Louie could have talked more about the working class neighbourhoods where these murders happened. However, my reaction could be something Louie expected because he might have thought about that when making the work. Perhaps in this instance, the concept of Open House is to make public a phenomenon in the Philippines many don’t know about. I can’t help but feel the work does not resolve itself. Concepts aside, I began to draw my attention to the details of the figures instead  but draw further away from thinking about how this is tied in to the idea of an ‘Open House’.  

Which brings me to realise that works using violent images are almost all allowed in this Biennale (with a parental advisory warning stuck to the wall) but works with homosexual themes are censored. Fujiwara’s work are sealed off from the public and I only had the chance to look pass the ‘no entry’ sign and gazed into the dark room. I saw some outlines of works but I knew I can’t trick the gallery sitter by refusing to obey and bypass the restrictive ‘no entry’ sign. It’s so weird to know that works like Louie Cordero’s or Ryan Trecartin’s are not censored. In the latter’s video works, rapid editing and frenetic speeches are used to reflect the manic communication styles influenced by mass media and new technologies. One look at these eccentric video works and you’re sure to worry about what images your child is learning from, what looks like a madhouse, on screen. How do these works relate to Open House? Why do we need to know about the ills of technology and pop culture? Haven’t we known enough already? 

The Biennale is described as an event happening ‘every other year’ with a focus on contemporary art. Contemporary art can be described as art produced at the present time or since World War 2. I wondered to myself why the biennale did not feature the large number of Singaporean artists who have produced contemporary artworks. I counted nine artists who are from Singapore with some living and working in two countries. There were so many European artists I started to wonder if this is a European invasion. Some of the works at the Old Kallang Airport were so cold and distant, I could not connect with it at all. How does this affect not just mine but other people’s sense of being in an Open House? How can we interact with the works when we don’t connect with it? Have the curators thought about this before doing anything or do they just want to do a biennale and thought to themselves, it would be a ‘change’ this year by showing more works of artists not from Asia? How did they come to this point?  

A better biennale not for me, but for Singapore’s sake! 

My first suggestion would be to stop having anymore open houses but reflect on how to open their eyes first. If the curators thought this biennale connects and engage with viewers, I beg to differ. If the curators are going to brush me off as a typical Singaporean complaining, then I suggest they take that opinion seriously because I do have constructive crticisms to give. Secondly, research on existing Asian artists who make works responding to their contemporary times. I can think of the likes of my co-writer, Zack Razak, Ezzam Rahman, Kelvin Ahmadinebrata, Tania De Rozario, Ong Xiao Yun, Jacklyn Soo, Juliana Yasin, Seelan Palay and many more. I also feel that the biennale’s use of the Old Kallang Airport is a useless waste of time but instead spaces such as The Substation and Post-Museum be made a central location instead of relegating them to the ‘parallel events’ section. It strikes me as odd that the Old Kallang Airport is made a location for the Biennale when artists in Singapore are trying hard to find spaces to work from. How about developing Singaporean artists in biennales so that they achieve the experience and depth to go global? Don’t just dismiss views as ‘complaints’ because it only means, you will once again have low viewership, even the foreigners will shake their heads at the lack of a critical debate.    

Response to Ms. Sheila Shanmugam

an unpublished letter to TODAY Voices section sent on June 23 2011. original letter by Ms. Sheila can be accessed here – http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC110623-0000318/The-troublesome-cost-of-days-off-for-maids 

I refer to the letter “The troublesome cost of days off for maids,” (June 23). Ms. Sheila Shanmugam gave a description of how employers are ‘victimised’ by domestic workers. While I agree with her point that employers can be subjected to more hassle when a maid gets pregnant, this does not conclude that maids should not be given a mandatory weekly rest day.
 
It is not the fault of employers but policies which have been put into place that strictly dictates what maids must not do while working in Singapore. The Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA) authoritatively states that maids cannot give birth in Singapore hence this translates to more employers not allowing maids a day off for fear of them getting pregnant. The onus is on the employer to repatriate the worker once her pregnancy is confirmed through the compulsory six months medical check-up. Employers should question on why this is a policy in Singapore when the maid can perform the task despite being pregnant. Like Singaporean women employees, the maid can take maternity leave to have her child back in her country before returning to Singapore to continue her employment. After all, if she is competent in her job, why should employers penalize her just because she got pregnant? Shouldn’t there be flexibility to allow measures for employers to benefit from hardworking maids who perform their job well? Instead, these policies not only discriminates maids but shortchange employers of a competent worker.
 
The other point raised by Ms Shanmugam is about how a maid spends her money if given a day off. It strikes me as puzzling that an employer will go to the extent of telling maids what to do with their wages. To my knowledge, maids who work here are from the ages of 23 and above. Shouldn’t they be mature enough to manage their own finances? Ms. Shanmugam further alluded to the fact that the maids will abscond from their main duties and perform extra work on weekends to make up for lost earnings. In other words, Ms. Shanmugam is worried her maid would perform sex work and this becomes a problem for her to manage. Ms. Shanmugam needs to stretch her worries further away from the maids. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has compulsory orientation programmes for maids once they are chosen to work here in Singapore by an interested employer. Shouldn’t there be some faith in MOM’s orientation programmes? Is Ms. Shanmugam saying the maid does not know her roles and responsibilities in Singapore hence we need to restrict her weekly rest day as a response to the problem?
 
Ms. Shanmugam should ask herself why the topic of a weekly rest day is discussed again and again in the media. This is because there are facts and truth to the many abused maids who do not get a chance to seek redress because they don’t have the social networks to do so. The day off allows them a window to obtain help and this has nothing to do with maids becoming pregnant or doing extra ‘vice’ work on weekends. Ms. Shanmugam seems to not acknowledge these social realities in her letter which I find problematic.
 
 
Miss Sha Najak
Bedok Reservoir Road
Blk 620, #07-1424
Singapore 470620
HP: 92390615

Letter to ST Forum –

Sent on June 2nd 2011. Unpublished letter I wrote to question the necessity of administering literacy tests in Singapore instead of the source country.

I refer to the article, ‘Maid in ICU after trying to hang herself,’ on June 1st 2011.

The Ministry of Manpower made it a requirement for maids to have English literacy tests in Singapore and not the home country. While it is understood that the literacy test helps maids to gain basic knowledge about their roles and responsibilities in Singapore, it is not known why this requirement is only subjected to maids. Foreign workers slated to work in the construction or shipping industries undergo skills tests in their home countries. This makes it easier especially for maids who paid a hefty sum in the hope for employment in Singapore. Why does the Ministry of Manpower not adopt this method for the hiring of maids as well?

Ms. Sha Najak
Bedok Reservoir Road
Blk 620, #07-1424
Singapore 470620

manicured nature 2011 featured on the business times

Where nature provides canvas

Natalie Koh Business Times 20 May 11;

WITH the year 2011 declared as the International Year of Forests by the United Nations, even artists have jumped in to do their part in stressing the importance of conservation.

For six weeks, 15 artists had bunked in at the Wallace Environmental Learning Laboratory at Dairy Farm Nature Park to create works for their exhibition – Manicured Nature Art Exhibition.

Organised by Artists Caravan, an independent, non-profit, artist collective, along with Raffles Girls’ School (RGS), the exhibition aims to create a sense of community ownership and responsibility in people of all generations, particularly urban-dwellers, as the organisers believe that more should be done to preserve the forests and the memories they hold.

To emphasise this, all the works for the exhibition were made from found objects at the Nature Park.

Joey Soh of Artists Caravan says: ‘The one rule underpinning all Artists Caravan’s projects is that materials for the production of artworks should be objects found on site. The primary intention to use found objects is that the contents are directly drawn from site, adding historical significance to the artworks.’

She adds that the exhibition stands for three different kinds of conservation, namely: ‘Preserving memories of people, places and objects at the venue itself; cherishing working relationships made during the project; and reusing and/or returning materials to its original state and location to reduce landfill possibilities.’

Chan Mei Hsien, also a part of the artists’ collective, says that the project has made her even more green-conscious, especially in her art-making process. For her exhibited work, Nature Assemblage, she uses tree parts, broken tiles, elephant ear leaves, wood, flower pots, African tulip pods and tree logs to create a circle, as if marking territory.

She explains: ‘Collecting, selecting and arranging found materials were a natural reaction to the site… Humans tend to create boundaries to claim the area as their own. It reflected on my own situation as an artist who is always on the move and in search of a personalised working space.

‘The desire to establish harmony within the drawn boundaries and how nature can disrupt the establishment presented the vulnerable side of an outdoor installation,’ she adds.

Other works to look out for are My time was too much occupied with those branches of natural history, by Sha Njak, which is an installation of a silver-coated branch to symbolise preservation and purity; Catch your dream according to your belief, by Mel Araneta, which features dreamcatchers made of nets and tree branches; and A Little Clay, by Suwong Kunrattanamaneephorn, which encourages viewers to enjoy the small things (look out for the tiny baby figurines hidden in the tree log).

Some of the works were created by students from RGS as well. This is in line with the exhibition’s goals of reaching out to people of all ages. Soh says: ‘We want to engage the youth, as it conjures feelings of respect and responsibility for the Nature Park, as well as bonds them to the place and each other.’

All objects used must eventually be returned to their original places, and be ‘put back to nature’. Soh explains that this is because Artists Caravan does not want to ‘leave negative trails from our residency’.

Chan adds: ‘Nothing will be wasted in this project, so what is left is only the documentation, the experience and a greater appreciation for Mother Nature.’

Open to the public, the Manicured Nature Art Exhibition is open on Saturdays and Sundays, 10am to 6pm from May 14 to June 29, at the Wallace Environmental Learning Laboratory

healing in the 21st century

I spend my time constructively these days. In fact, as I get older, I tend to spend it more constructively. In my early adult years, I spent a lot of time hanging out with renuka and ravinder at mamak shops, kopitiams and we would go dancing as it was ravinder’s favourite thing to do. she is a high-spirited person who have her own past traumas which could culminate into a book if written down. I was happy to have two indian friends and some closer Malay and Chinese friends who share some similar stories with me. Perhaps, I was looking for a form of social support amongst peers to feel safe while away from home. Home was always a grey area and I never truly learnt the true meaning of home.

My grievances usually revolve around feeling sensitive to verbal abuses from my immediate caretaker which is my dad but this was right after my grandmother had passed on. As a child, I was taken care of by my grandmother who is nothing short of verbally abusive and physically violent as well. I remember once she hit me with a broom and the incident left a mark on my head. Luckily, my hair is able to cover the bump which would otherwise make me look awful if revealed out in the open. There were the usual incidents of caning and bleeding that happened as a result of the caning. I would be caned for talking rudely to her or receive a lashing for every instance of bad attitude I show when she asked me to do something for her. I guess, I was comfortable doing my own things and would rather be left alone. But she was getting older and needed a caretaker herself. I remember when she was in a coma, I repeatedly looked at her hands and observed the green veins that pop out to memorise it. I wanted to remember her hands because they were the favourite parts of her I liked most. These were the same hands that would pat me to sleep or rub oil on my hair. When I was much younger, these were the same hands that would feed me and roll rice into a small ball so that I would have a much easier time eating my rice which I refused to eat most of the time. Like most children, I didn’t like vegetables and disliked the taste of bland rice. Years later in my adult life, I turned vegetarian for some years which was a surprising turn of events considering I never ate my vegetables well as a child.

It has come to my awareness that parents impart values onto their very impressionable children. Domestic violence is a trait learned firstly from our parents. I wondered how my father learned his values. With the absence of his own father and a mother who often works long hours, like me, he too missed out on most of his childhood moments and had to grow up faster in order to be self-reliant. Perhaps most South Asian families demand of their children this valuable trait – self-reliance. How they impart these values varies from person to person.

I remember my father and his own mother not having the best relations when we moved into Toa Payoh where I formally went to school at. They rarely talked and I recall my grandmother often crying alone to herself. The once great cook would resort herself to eating plain rice with salt in a large cup we got for free when we bought a Nestle bottle of coffee. She would avoid contact with my father as he was possessive of his own space. He preferred the house to be the way he wants it and would normally get irritated when my grandmother would use too much water or wet the floors. He comes home from work and locks himself in his room most of the time. Or he would come watch TV and change the channels while we were watching a show together. My grandmother would get upset with him a lot. I never quite understood their relationship and why it soured so badly. Ironically, it was my father who was the most remorseful when my grandmother passed away. I remember he knocked onto my door and told me to get ready at 4am in the morning when I was 18 years old. He choked and finally said she’s passed on.

At 29 this year, my father’s verbal assaults are not as difficult as it were before. Having stayed with my mother for the past 3 years, I moved back with him 3 months ago and this time, he has re-married with a 4 year old daughter, my sister. Similar child-minding behaviour can be seen on her too which gives me the perfect opportunity to reflect albeit a psychoanalyst’s lens to unpack the consequences or outcomes of harsh child-minding skills, can only present one side of the story. Unfortunately, he has changed only a few steps ahead and I think he’s trying hard to keep himself composed as well as maintain his marriage. An onerous task and an isolating path too when there are little mentors to give us advice once we reach a certain adult age and perceived to be self-reliant and able to help ourselves. It is a misconception to think adults do not require advice or that they’re unwilling to change. Sometimes, one would change just to survive the challenges of everyday life live peacefully despite the unfulfilled dreams and past traumas. what else is there other than moving on in life?

Perhaps change is perceived differently by each individual person. And to attain change is a struggle for many who cling onto old habits. I wonder if others were to share their side of the story, how would it all look like and perhaps, honest reflections from my father and other relatives would help give more insight into how we can heal these past traumas peacefully. And perhaps one indicator of how we change is through feeling less sensitive, accepting one’s reality and realising that blaming another is not the solution. and perhaps by then, revisiting past traumas isn’t so bad at all.

un-published letter to Straits Times

As a Singaporean, I have read about the need for a death penalty to curb crime such as drug trafficking. I was told by my government that it keeps Singapore safe and true to its own words, Singapore is quite a safe place to live in.

However, my moral conscience was not able to rest when I read about the plight of Yong Vui Kong and his process into the business of drug trafficking. He was a young man victimized by other adults whom he had trusted. With the knowledge that Singapore carries a hefty punishment for drug trafficking, these perpetrators get away scot-free leaving Yong with the burden of being punished heavily for a crime he was led into doing. This does not sit well with my conscience.

How can a drug trafficker be sentenced to death when the person who supplied him the job will not have to face punishment? How can Singapore then say that we wish to keep Singapore safe when these invisible perpetrators are able to cheat another young man into doing the same deed Yong did to feed their greediness? Where is the moral explanation for this and how can we hang a young man for this without tackling the problem at the root of its cause?

I urge the Singapore government to grant clemency to Yong Vui Kong and believe in a second chance so that he can reform and lead a better life. Singapore has been known to campaign and humanise criminals such as the Yellow Ribbon Project and I am confident that given the chance, Yong will rehabilitate and reintegrate into society. As a trained social worker who knows what it’s like to be compassionate, I urge President Nathan to give clemency to Yong Vui Kong.

Sha Najak (Ms.)

my time was too much occupied with those branches of natural history

This was an email conversation with fellow artists from Manicured Nature 2011, an Artist Caravan initiative in partnership with the National Parks and WELL. I wrote this to reflect on my process in the 6-week residency thus far and how my ideas had shifted.

6th April 2011

I started off thinking about Kolam formations using soil. This was something in relation to spirituality and its most common links to Hinduism. Naturally, the mention of the cow in dairy farm nature park reminded me of the sacred cow in Hinduism. I was confident that this was something I can do in the space. Moreover, the iconic cow and its significance as the bearer of milk to british soldiers had a playful connotation to militarism and nurturance. i was amused because when we hear of military officers training in the jungle to gain confidence and strength in what it seen as a ‘rugged’ terrain (forest) that it is the very same forest who also provides sustenance. and animals had played a part too but unfortunately the british colonisers’ stereotype of indian cows being inferior is a stark reminder of how colonising history and its segregation of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is problematic.

during the residency i grew fascinated by the tree branches that I see. I liked the shapes and for some the thin branches twirled and slithered upwards as if reaching towards the sky. i thought about how these intriguing branches would be gone one day and that linked me to my need to preserve nature. which led me to spray painting the branches white and silver.

i thought more about this and ironically, alfred russel wallace had this untempered desire to preserve as well. i read his essay on Singapore in The Malay Archipelago and went on to the online archive of Wallace’s letters. I found his writings to be a generalisation of the community life back then and well, perhaps that’s the Orientalist gaze or just a simplifying sort of English that is used without much research. Who could blame him as he was unable to speak the languages well and even if he did, it was a tempered down version which does not include the cultural sensitivities of a group.

i remember lucy davis had a show, Migrant Ecologies where she explained her fascination with wallace and the increasing use of timber from Malaya (now more so Indonesia and that’s why we get affected by haze when they burn the forest to sell wood to the west/east that makes furniture and sell them in Singapore at hefty prices) and i remember she responded to an audience member’s question about her as an artist mimicking the coloniser’s gaze and producing a variety of information that is ironed out and left for everyone to see and decide if they stay comfortable or find discomfort in it. i liked her idea of non-judgmental research based work and for someone like me, i was discomforted at the images she produced.

in spray painting the tree branches i chose and having conversations with some of you, i find myself fascinated with wallace as a coloniser. during his time, he was not the only white man in this region and he knows that. perhaps he did feel comfortable being in this surrounding and did not find his presence ‘intrusive’ and that archiving natural history is like an urge to define human existence and make meaning from one’s purpose of living. perhaps these forests where we artists had the priviledge of being ‘intruders’ as well and occasional residents are mimicking or evolving the natural tendency in us to look beyond our current zone of influence. and for me, these trees, land and quiet murmurings of the birds are like a source of sustenance/nurturance much like british soldiers who may have grown fond of the space, the villagers and the forests of which their identities have interwoven with amidst the travails of military life. and perhaps saving a country is much easier than saving the forest…or perhaps these soldiers had voiced themselves out too. with some thinking to themselves, wouldn’t it be better for us to feed and nurture indian cows so that they produce good milk for us rather than bring cows from britain?

and maybe just maybe….wallace didn’t intend or vision this happening as he was far too excited at preserving beetles in this part of the world. perhaps he was chasing for recognition as an archivist of natural history and having constructive ‘tensions’ with darwin that it failed to cross his mind about the demise of natural history right before his eyes…..or maybe he did know….

so the title of my artwork is ‘my time was too much occupied with those branches of natural history’ taken from an essay written by Wallace – http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/index1.htm

where he said and i quote, ‘As almost all the insects in this catalogue which inhabit the Malayan archipelago were collected by me, I have been requested to make a few observations on them. In doing so I would wish to state that, though I collected all orders of insects, my time was too much occupied with those branches of natural history in which I was more especially interested, to pay much attention to the habits or economy of the Hymenoptera. All, therefore, I can hope to do, is to give a few superficial observations on their habits and distribution, and on the nature of the localities in which they most abound. As the present is the first of a series of works on the eastern Insects collected by me, it may be well to say a few words on the different places in which I made my collections.’