Rinait Soundscapes
Rinait Soundscapes was a collaboration between Pertubuhan Kolektif Seni Budaya Sabah (PKSB) and the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology (GCVA) at the University of Manchester, funded by British Council Malaysia’s Human-Nature: Alternative Narratives Creative Collaboration Grant. Designed by social anthropologist Dr Jarrod Jansz Sim, it explored the traditional ecological knowledge integral to the Momolian cosmology of the Kadazandusun community in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
During a month of fieldwork in April-May 2026, I used documentary photography (35mm, medium format, and large format) and digital video alongside experimental photographic methods to examine changing local relationships to landscapes and the seven plants traditionally used in ritual blessings in the Penampang region. On my own and in workshops with local project participants, I used the agencies of these plants to make the phytograms and ‘souped’ photos below. We also made solargraphs of the sunrise over Mount Kinabalu using pinhole cameras made with empty drinks cans. All photographic films were developed at an outside sink on the edge of the forest and digitally transferred in an un-airconditioned dormitory - probably my most challenging working conditions yet! Special thanks go to ‘Uncle’ Melvin Sebastian, who collected the plants and taught us their significance, ‘Aunty’ Angelica Suimin, on whose land we mostly worked, and the Bobolian apprentices and volunteers in Penampang for their incredible enthusiasm and hospitality (I left Sabah several kilograms heavier). Project outputs have been left with the community to form the basis of an archive.
While viewing these images, I recommend playing the video below. It features a music recording I made of Bobolian apprentice and traditional Rungus musician Razif Ajip, projected onto the underside of palm leaves on a humid night. Razif is currently appearing in project spin-off Vinorun with Paul Hartnoll (Orbital), a music track and immersive audio-visual installation that uses some of my video footage.
