precious ephemera: cases for kueh
2025 / gold card stock / assorted sizes
This collection of paper artworks is a tribute to nyonya kueh — the vibrant, storied desserts of Peranakan culture. Each piece is an imagined casing, crafted not to hold the actual kueh, but to cradle a conceptual version of it — a symbolic representation of its form, spirit, and cultural weight. Like intricate jewelry boxes, these paper sculptures elevate the kueh as an object of reverence, highlighting the intangible heritage it carries.
The surface motifs draw from Peranakan, Chinese, and especially batik design traditions — visual languages that reflect the layered cultural identity of the region. These patterns speak to a rich history of craftsmanship, hybridity, and adaptation. Though the casings appear ornate and precious, they are made entirely of paper — a deliberate choice to reflect the fragile nature of culture itself, especially when it is not actively safeguarded or cherished.
By presenting these imagined receptacles, this series invites viewers to reflect on how we honor, preserve, and pass down cultural memory. As with paper, the endurance of heritage relies on the care with which it is held.
This series is created in response to an invitation to a group show, "From Palais to Pulau" (Penang Edition), by Critical Craft Collective, with whom I previously showed Five Onigiri Cases. Considering the notions of home, and kinship between Malaysia and Singapore, the “kueh” — a broad term for traditional snacks in Southeast Asia, using rice as a staple ingredient — is my attempt to demonstrate how similar the people of two lands actually are, by flattening societal hierarchy through food that we share.
First exhibited at Hin Bus Depot, Penang, 2025