我是在2020年初從馬來西亞藝術學院的副院長口中初次聽說Okui Lala 這個人，當時我們都在那裡工作。「Okui Lala 在福建話有特別意思，但我忘記了。這個女孩很有趣，也很有好奇心。」黃愛英對我說。對他人的好奇心是Okui Lala 藝術實踐的基礎。我們同樣出身自檳城，後來她在吉隆玻生活時，和我一樣從不駕車，卻選擇隔日乘坐公共交通往返吉隆玻兩端。
她自稱為藝術家及文化工作者，但不會看輕後者的身份。她的實踐有一種關係性，反思作為藝術家的自己與協作對象的位置，作品模糊了對象作為參與者與藝術主體之間的界線。
作品例子包括 Let’s Eat and Drink Tea（圖1，2015），展現關係性的轉移，正如題目本身亦強調聚會。她邀請了兩位緬甸移民，一位在檳城生活了20多年，另一位最近搬到馬來西亞，讓他們一起製作緬甸茶葉沙律。兩人透過翻譯理解對方以相異口音和語言所作的指示。就像以訛傳訛的遊戲般，訊息在翻譯過程經過一個複雜和矛盾的過程，再以外語重構。這段影像表達的不單是文化差異，也是人與人之間怪異的相似性。
另一件值得分享的小作品是我與Okui Lala的第一次合作，為Ilham藝廊舉辦的「Instagram接管」活動（圖3）。那時正值馬來西亞的緊急狀態，所有藝術空間都被迫關閉。作品呼應她在2015年創作，關於公共住宅、植物和公共空間的作品《十年樹木，百年樹人》（圖2）。Okui Lala訪問了居民對於公眾走廊上的植物的看法，揭示了關懷、共同記憶，以及植物是如何見證居民成長和生活公市的變化。我在2021年末離開馬來西亞前開啟了一個Instagram專頁，和大家交換所種的植物。最後我把第一則帖文的大部分植物送給了Okui（圖4）。
透過分享、交換和對話，埋藏在Okui Lala作品中的好奇心穿引著移動、勞工和關懷之間的生態網。
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圖1：截自 Let’s Eat and Drink Tea! (I) 的圖像。在此雙畫面影像中，Florence Lay 先後以緬甸語 (左)及馬來語 (右)講解，附有英文字幕。
圖2：Okui Lala 邀請朋友分享他們栽種的植物相片及故事到我們的平台與空間。
圖3：接管活動期間在Ilham 藝廊Instagram上的帖文
圖4：我清理地方時送給Okui Lala的植物和層架
圖5：Okui Lala送我的印尼食物和飲品
圖6： Okui與PERTIMIG成員作品《Rasa dan Asa》放映及分享
I first heard of Okui Lala’s name uttered from the deputy director’s mouth of Malaysian Institute of Art, where we both worked at the time in early 2020. “Okui Lala, I think it means something in Hokkien! But I forgot already,” Ooi Ai Eng shared with me. “This girl is a funny one ya! Also so curious you know.” The curiosity about others is what underpins Okui Lala’s practise. Based in Kuala Lumpur but from my very hometown, Penang, she, just like me, refutes to drive and decides to take public transport every other day to commute from one end of Kuala Lumpur to the other.
Dubbing herself as both an artist and a cultural worker, she does not take the latter title lightly. There is a relationality with her practice, a reflexive gaze of positioning between her as an artist and the subject as a collaborator. Her work blurs the boundaries between subject of art and subject-as-participant in the process of art-making itself.
An example of the shift in relationality is in the work Let’s Eat and Drink Tea! (image 1, 2015), a title embedded in the act of gathering. Working with the Burmese migrants, she invites two collaborators, one who has lived in Penang for over 20 years and another who recently moved to Malaysia, together they make Burmese Tea Salad. There is a process of translation between languages, accents to discern the instructions between each other. Like the game Chinese whispers, the message is translated. As we all know, translation goes through a process of complexity and contradiction, recontextualising using foreign tongues. The video not only expresses the cultural gaps, but eerie similarities between all.
Another small art piece I wish to share my first collaboration with Okui Lala, on an Instagram takeover she conducted for Ilham Gallery (image 2). This was when the national emergency was declared in Malaysia and all art spaces were closed. Echoing her 2015 piece entitled 《十年樹木，百年樹》(image 3) a piece which navigates public housing, plants, and communal spaces, Okui Lala interviewed the residents about the communal plants residing on the shared corridor revealed notions of care, shared memory and how the plants bore witness to the growth and changes in the People’s Mansion. When I eventually left Malaysia in late 2021, I opened an Instagram page to barter and exchange these plants I cultivate. In the end, I gave Okui many of the plants I featured in the initial post (image 4).
It is through the act of sharing, exchange and conversations, the curiosity buried in Okui Lala’s practice navigates the ecologies of migration, labour and care.
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Image 1 : Video still from “Let’s Eat and Drink Tea! (I)” In this split screen video, Florence Lay spoke in Myanmar (left screen) and then Malay (right screen); English text is provided after both language was spoken.
Image 2: Okui Lala asked friends to contribute a photo of their plants and share stories each plant holds to our interior spaces and practice.
Image 3 : Post on Ilham Gallery’s Instagram during Okui Lala’s takeover
Image 4 : The plants and rack I gave to Okui Lala as I was clearing my space
Image 5 : Okui Lala gave me Indonesian food and drink (Bakso)
Image 6 : Work by Okui and members of PERTMIG, “Rasa dan Asa”