KOTA KINABALU: For the first time in Sabah, the opening of an art exhibition will feature various local art collaborators using different forms of art to create awareness on various social issues.
Organised by Contagious Creative Agency at South Sea Sanctuary in Kampung Air, ‘TACKit! reveals: The 3 Sided Coin’ will be highlighting the works of three photographers, Ron Pudin, Alan Kerroux and Jordan Sitorus.
The photography on display and sale include images of avian, nature, habitat, travel and portraits. The event will also feature Pangrok Sulap’s conscious art, printing and painting all the way from Ranau and paintings by Sattama, a local artist based in Kuala Lumpur.
The exhibition showcases social practice art and performance installations, including the ‘Silken Sky Raining Beads’ by Eleanor Goroh of Magic Borneo Beads during the opening night on Friday.
The ‘Silken Sky Raining Beads’ installation, which includes beautiful local beadwork, also featured an opening dance installation by TACKit!, combining elements from ethnic, contemporary and modern shamanic/healing movements.
Aside from that is the ‘Candy Crush’ campaign, which uses art to create awareness on child marriage and sexual abuse. Created by TACKit! and its core member, Tamar Abdul Rahman, this installation is based on Sabrina Aripen’s (SAWO) personal project called ‘Reclaiming Innocence’.
‘Boxed’, an installation by TACKit! and its founder, Devi Kusardy Cox, is based on a talk titled ‘Childhood in the Migrant City’ by anthropologist Catherine S. Allerton from the London School of Economics (LSE) and uses materials gathered from her fieldwork in Kota Kinabalu.
During the opening night, this installation featured Australian poet Chris Wright and experimental singer-songwriter duo CoffeeVersusEvil (CVE), comprising Rene Barrow and Rozella Mahjhrin.
CVE also created the soundscapes for all three installations which features their original song ‘Lonely Little Girl’. CVE also performed a song they wrote, ‘Black Bird’, which is dedicated to migrant children.
‘Greed’, a onetime only behavioral performance, was also performed during the opening night involving two women in a plastic box stuffing themselves with ketchup. Accompanied by poetry from Eleanor Goroh, the performance symbolised what is going on in the world due to mankind’s never-ending thirst and greed for power – of how we are depleting our resources and still, it is not enough.
The mixed art exhibition will be ongoing until October 16. All artworks are for sale, visiting hours are from 11am to 11pm and admission is free of charge.
TACKit! is a social participatory art group that uses art as an investigative tool in understanding human nature. The group engages people of diverse backgrounds to build critical dialogue on social issues and aims to create an art-centric environment that fosters art-based education and pioneers progressive artistic research in Borneo.
Contagious Creative Agency aims to create a platform for local and international artists of different forms to showcase their talents. This is their seventh exhibition and they are scheduled to organise two more art exhibitions this year. Interested artists who are keen to feature their artworks in similar exhibitions next year can contact them directly.
For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/ContagiousCreativeAgency.