Project Team: Marianne McAra| Lynn-Sayers McHattie | Gamia Dewanggamanik | Wendy Teo
C&VM is a collaboration between The Glasgow School of Art and The Borneo Laboratory, funded by the British Council. C&VM seeks to deepen understandings of the role cultural assets can play in enhancing the creative economy in Borneo, SE Asia. The aim of the project is to explore and highlight the significance of craft practice and vernacular materials through commissioning 10 short craft-based projects inspired by a key sustainability challenge:
- changing landscapes, scarcity of natural materials and exploring alternatives
- sustainable livelihoods in the context of mass production
- reconnecting to traditions, protecting indigenous practices and knowledge
- engaging the younger generation
- inclusivity in craft
C&VM will end with the ‘Gotong Royong’, a collaborative event and exhibition that will be taking place in November 2022at The Borneo Culture Museum to showcase the practitioners’ craftwork and to further explore local cultural assets and key sustainability challenges with wider networks and stakeholders.
In July, Professor Lynn-Sayers McHattie and PhD candidate Gamia Dewanggamanik facilitated a 2-day workshop in Kuching, which brought the practitioners together from across Borneo to collectively explore and share stories from their work, as well as began planning their own individual C&VM projects. Whilst aligned to one or more of the key sustainability challenges, the practitioners looked at ways to focus their projects around, for example, forms of education (e.g. prototyping new ways to collaborate or teach); a materials exploration (and experimenting with alternative materials); new ways to document process (documenting for example through film/ photography);or exhibition (e.g. exploring new ways to share and promote work). From this, we have a diverse range of projects - examples include: Jennifer Linggi’s project, which is a documentation of Borneo textiles focusing on Murunt motifs and patterns as guides and a reference tool for designers and architects; Salomon Gau’s, which is exploring the challenges of sustainable wood sourcing in xylophone making practice, harvested in relation to moon phases; and the Sepatokimin Initiative who are exploring digital archiving of Songket weaving in Sambas and Singkawang for future education in terms of engaging younger generations. In another example, Angela Mayrina of Handep Haruei is exploring ways to inspire the engagement of current and future generations ofDayak weavers through prototyping the ‘Ratu & Putri Dare Competition’.
Following the workshop, and in collaboration with our project partner Wendy Teo and her team at the Borneo Laboratory, an impact film has been commissioned where Wendy and Gamia are tracing the practitioners’ journeys in each of their projects, which will also be screened at the Gotong Royong event.
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