Beyond the dancing leaves
As the theme of the exhibition is “Daun” or “Leaves” I used the forest for my presentation. If you look at the forest from afar you will only see leaves. When the wind blows the leaves will be dancing gracefully, but if you go inside you will see a lot more. I used dark lines to divide my canvas into different smaller shapes. For this I am influenced by a famous artist “Piet Mondrain” who used straight vertical and horizontal lines to divide his canvas to achieve harmony and balance. I also incorporated the Pua Kumbu motifs as I want my painting to have that taste of Sarawak. However, I do not just copy the motifs as it is but rather I created my own motifs to suit my needs. So you will see the motifs of beetle, centipede and Scorpion while the “Paku Pakis” can be seen down below. The wavy lines represent the small streams and the yellow dots are the fireflies. All around, you also see palm leaves and other coloured leaves. I also included the red sun and its rays piercing through the leaves, a scene that I always enjoyed while playing in the forest when I was young.
