Pagar & Padi is a collaborative project by Sabah-based artists, Catriona Maddocks and Gindung Mc Feddy Simon. It has travelled to Kuala Lumpur by way of Kota Kinabalu, where it was first exhibited throughout August–September 2023 at Kota-K Art Gallery.
Pagar & Padi presents the documentation of a piece of land art created by Maddocks and Simon in collaboration with community members of Kampung Kilimu, a rural village at the foothills of Mount Kinabalu. In 2022, the artist collaborator duo participated in the annual “Mongomot” rice-planting event, using heritage rice grains to spell out the word “JAMIN” (“guarantee” in Malay) into the earth at Kampung Kilimu. In March 2023, the artists harvested the padi and documented the process through drone photography and videography. The documentation was presented first at Kota-K art gallery. In early November the artists will once again return to the Padi fields in Ranau to re-plant the land art, and the documentation will be exhibited, in a slightly adapted form, at The Back Room gallery, Kuala Lumpur.
The 20-feet piece of land art commemorates the formation of Malaysia and the terms by which Sabah agreed to its role in the building of the Malaysian nation. “Jamin”, the chosen word planted in padi, references the Keningau Batu Sumpah of 1964, on which a plaque stated that the Malaysian government guaranteed (“jamin”) the rights to freedom of religion, land autonomy and the practice of customs and traditions.
The work also celebrates the role that rice plays in the daily lives and traditional belief systems of rural Sabahans, and the necessity for community members to come together in the spirit of “gotong-royong” (collective clean-up) to assist one another in the annual harvest.
Maddocks said of the work, “Rice has been cultivated by communities in Borneo for countless generations, and in return rice has cultivated customs, beliefs, traditions and rich oral histories throughout this island. To take this significant staple food and utilise it to create an artwork was really exciting, especially as we had the opportunity to work alongside local community members and learn from them techniques, songs and taboos that have been passed down from their ancestors.”
Opening reception: Saturday, 11 November 2023, from 4 pm onwards
Simon and Maddocks in a paddy field in 2022, planting the paddy to spell out the word “JAMIN”. Photo by Adrian Johnny
Simon and Maddocks together with the community members they worked with in Kampung Kilimu for the planting and harvesting of the paddy. Photo by Jun Kan
About the Artists
Gindung Mc Feddy Simon is an artist, musician and researcher from Ranau in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. He is the co-founder of the printmaking art collective Pangrok Sulap, and a revivalist of the traditional boat lute from Sabah, the sundatang. Learning techniques, songs and folklore from community elders, he is an instrument maker and also the founder of Tuni Sundatang, a contemporary ethno-fusion six-piece band. As a child, he helped his family plant and harvest padi, but this is the first time that he has returned, as an adult, to padi-planting to produce the land art that forms the centrepiece of Pagar & Padi.
Catriona Maddocks is a curator, artist, and researcher from the U.K., currently based in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. Her cross-disciplinary work focuses on collaborative platform-building and developing spaces in which to explore identity, community narratives, and cultural heritage within a contemporary context. She is the co-founder of Catama and Borneo Bengkel, and lead researcher for Borneo Boat Lute Revival, focusing on museum collections around the world that contain Bornean artifacts, ensuring that they and Bornean voices are correctly represented. She has worked with rural communities documenting cultural practices for a decade but this artwork is the first time she has combined her art, research and creative practices to explore land activism and indigenous rights.
The word “JAMIN” as spelled out in full-grown paddy in a field in Kampung Kilimu, Ranau, Sabah, captured with drone photography. Photo by Jun Kan
Artist collaborators Gindung Mc Feddy Simon (left) and Catriona Maddocks (right) in their exhibition, Pagar & Padi, when it was first shown at Kota-K Art Gallery, Kota Kinabalu, in September 2023.
INSTALLATION SHOTS
Photos courtesy of Kenta Chai.