Memories of running through thorn bushes in youth haunts the child’s dreams; roses caught in hair, spikes caught in clothes.

Suara Melati (“The Sound of Jasmine”) recounts a story of fragrance and collective memory within maritime Southeast Asia and its contradistinction with its European counterpart. The work reflects fears and superstitions surrounding settlers, kidnapping, and sexual violence in ancient civilisations, primarily in Indonesia; fragrance, particularly that of jasmine, presents itself as a bad omen across several Southeast Asian islands, while simultaneously being a symbol of beauty, elegance, and pleasure upon its arrival in Europe in the 15th century. 

Suara Melati finds its roots in the tale of kuntilanak (pontianak in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam), a vengeful spirit of a vampiric woman who died at or before childbirth. She is a long black haired woman dressed fully in white who lives deep within the bamboo forests of ‘the islands’ (Nusantara ꦤꦸꦱꦤꦫ) or among Weeping Fig trees. Javanese women, outside beyond curfew must carry a sharp pair of scissors for protection; babies are put to bed next to kitchen knives. 

Signs a kuntilanak is present is the sweet aroma of jasmine following you on the night of a full moon.

A kiss from a sweet songbird, a familiar voice; light as a feather, heavy as stone, a companion and a weapon.

The hand of the martyr is the holiest hand, the hand of the devoted at the mercy of the God he believes in, and the victim of a war he shouldn’t have had to face. 

Praying hands are begging hands . The act of folding your hands is an act of surrender to God, that you areat his mercy. How powerful then, the weight of the power our hands hold; as though faith incarnate.

Liquid Smooth explores the materiality and malleability of metal. The glasses are designed to morph to the model’s face, bending and melting with the facial structure of the wearer. Its nosebridge is detachable, pushing its ability to be worn by all faces.