ART: a lie that creates a tangible truth

an application to CAL-EARTH INSTITUTE:
the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture

I am in a stage in life where I am making the transition from architecture to sculpture. While obtaining my undergraduate from the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University I co-founded ORKIDSTUDIO. This is an art and architecture based non-profit organization that aims to use these creative disciplines as tools for humanitarian aid and a platform for poverty alleviation.

We have completed two successful projects to date: a kitchen for the New Hope Orphanage, Mukono, Uganda and an arts centre for the Alalay Foundation, La Paz, Bolivia. I have learnt that my passion has gone beyond just designing pretty looking buildings and producing beautifully rendered drawings or works of art. Thus, I have narrowed my interests down to 2 (fairly wide) categories:

ART & SOCIAL CHANGE

Being on the move for 2 years after completing my degree has brought me to many new fascinating places on earth from cycling around the city of Barcelona, road tripping in Morocco, helping out at Paris Fashion week, training to be a yoga teacher in Goa, organizing a fashion fundraiser in Kuala Lumpur, Eco Tourism consultation in Clarke (Philippines), working at an eco-resort on Langkawi Island, building for an orphanage in La Paz (Bolivia) and most recently being thrown neck deep in a social reform movement BERSIH 2.0 in my own beloved land, Malaysia.

This has made me realize that true art comes from true emotions. I recently watched a very inspiring video on YouTube on a magician explaining his ideas on art and magic:

“Art is deception that creates real emotions, a lie that creates a truth, and when you give yourself over to that deception, it becomes magic.” – Virtual magician

Cal-earth will be able to help me a lot to achieve my dreams to be a sculptor that will sculpt a world, without fear or favor, literally, figuratively and mentally. The tools for this will be physical sculpture, humanitarian work, entrepreneurship, arts movements and education.

Architecturally, I have a fascination for Islamic architecture, despite being a practicing Christian by faith. I think it is so important to not be biased about other cultures and different world philosophies. At the end of the day, I truly believe that Religion, Money, Race and Suffering are just quantifying vessels for:
– Faith, Richness, Identity and Challenges in life.

My goals in life are to become an artist that DIRECTLY contributes to social change. And I feel that Cal-Earth can teach me the basic fundamentals of how to technically produce sculpture that directly aids an individual and an entire community. I would love to learn how to physically sculpt architecture, which is sustainable in all senses: ecologically, economically and culturally. I would like to start with the 10 day course in Girona, Spain and if that goes well and I feel I want to learn more I will be interested in studying long-term in the future.

I would appreciate it very much if you did consider me for a partial scholarship. To visit the charity I co-founded please visit http://www.orkidstudio.co.uk we would love to use your technology to impact more lives if possible. I also have a blog on the ARTS and SOCIAL CHANGE – http://sudechabei.net

Muchas Gracias.

Paz y Amor,
Su Mei

some deceiving artistic soulfood …

so today i had an amazing time and broke my virginity to URBANSCAPES .. a creative event where lots of “hipsters”, hippies, artists and all creative types united for a day, on padang astaka P.J.

it was funny as the art and creative scene is just a toddler in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia … this event is seen to be a “hipster” event, conjuring all sorts of negative connotations.

so why does the word hipster have such negative connotations ?

“because most of the time hipsters are very pretentious, it used be cool to be a hipster, but now these days if you say you are indie, you are a hipster. if you say you are a hipster, you are mainstream”
– joint reply between Nadia Leong and Isabelle Lim

here is the definition of a hipster on urbandictionary : click HIPSTER

anyway …. just for some soulfood, here is an awesome short film by one of my new found activist friends.

“The Colours of Deception” by Low Wei Yan

peace & love
su mei

1/3 MADE

Some of the most important lessons in life can be taken from a well-known classic quote:

“To know that you do not know is the best. To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease”

– Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 BC – 531 BC)

Many do not learn this lesson till their more mature years in life. Traditional education systems around the world train kids to be obedient, subservient, to “listen and not be heard” and to just STUDY. I think anyone who entered in to the business of helping people are forced to learn the true meaning of this statement very quickly as you realize that the people that can best help a community of people in need, are people from that come from the community. What foreigners to that society can bring are fresh ideas and fresh funds. However, the education process should be both ways rather than single tracked.

A personal revelation through growing up in the largest continent, studying in the continent of colonials and working with Orkidstudio in two of the most oppressed continents would be this:

Countries in the world that have managed to dust their hands of their extreme and fascist regimes have slowly started to recognize the importance, and emergence of the arts through their education systems. Art education can be interpreted as a way of learning that engages the students creatively and can be done through various mediums e.g. painting, sculpture, music, literature, dance, drama etc.

Simply put, developing nations, which are seen as “3rd world” or developing countries and known to the nations who live in “1st world” or developed countries as being in a state of POVERTY. More often than not, relatively impoverished countries have a system of dictatorship. Systems like these existed and were needed at a certain stage for the development of a country. Like a parent disciplining a child, the initial years have to be fairly strict and the child cannot have too much democratic say in to what he/she chooses. However, after a certain age the child has to become self-funding and self-sustainable. The parent too has to start letting the child go after providing the child with a strong foundation of values and a good education.

The major problem in the macro-economical scale, is that in the context of most countries, the dictatorial system of building a country both knowingly and subconsciously to suppress what could be the most important elements of building a successful and thriving group: Communication, Collaboration and Community.

Historically, the arts have been the element to fight poverty, change systems. Bringing emotional, spiritual and physical freedom to the lives of the oppressed. Functional art, also known as design or architecture deals with providing people with well thought out solutions to carry their daily activities in or even better, enable them to gain access to activities and ways of sustaining themselves in ways they had never dreamt of. E.g. energy saving stoves, rain water collection systems, solar panel powered lights, producing works of art, making bread, turning plastic milk bags in to recycled shopping bags etc.

The biggest social problems that divide people from living in harmony can be simplified to 4 things:

Money, Race, Religion and Poverty.

What the arts can do for people is for them to realize that MAYBE these elements are just the quantifying vessels for:

Wealth, Identity, Faith and Challenges.

Studying any design subject will make you realize that your clients will often tell you their wants disguised as needs.
For example, “I need more air conditioning/heating” or “I need 10 bathrooms”. However it is for the designer to creatively come to a realization of what exactly the problems are and attempting to see if solving it creatively is a better solution to just giving them what they are asking for.

Collaborative article with Julissa Kiyenji and James Ross Mitchell at a later date for ORKIDSTUDIO,

To be published in the 2011 edition Welsh School of Architecture’s MADE Journal.

peace & love,
Su Mei

terrible TUESDAY tales: Rape Victim

I presented this yesterday at the arTEAfar-TEAparty, thanks to all that came and donated to the 2 causes – Negeri Johor PKR and to Pusat Bantuan Sentul, in total we raised RM363!

So this is a story from my HEART, it stems down 3 generations of my family. It’s a bit long, but if you read it carefully and know a lil about Malaysian history/politics, it should be interesting.

20 Movements of a Rape Victim

1.

This is a story about how a ‘being’ was defined,
And needs a fresh start of Justice.
It is not about an individual
But a collective of people,
In a beautiful land that has been a victim of RAPE
Over several decades, taking its people, resources, freedom of expression & unity.

“RAPE cannot be taken lightly, don’t do it;
It breaks your spirit and steals your confidence.”
-Zoya Jamlaney

2.

The year 1948

My name is Malaya, derived from the Sanskrit term
Malaiur or Malayadvipa,
Which can be translated as “land of mountains”.
I am a rich and prosperous land with
Beautiful people from around Asia,
I started provided for the original people,
And soon welcomed immigrants from the mountains,
The middle country and the body of water

The year 1963

In the past 15 years I gained 3 siblings:
Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore.
My father Tunku loved us very much.
He named us MALAYsia.
Obviously he might have had his favorites
But he was still a good dad.
I loved him and he loved me.

3.

The year 1965

Sister Singapore was becoming too strong and
Dad could not keep her under control.
She kept attending these PAP ‘parties’
And dad did not like it. So she was asked to leave.
It was a sad time, but I think it did her good,
Her dream is to become a successful international model. Something dad would never have let her do.

4.

March 24, 1968

I am 20 years old. Yesterday I met a man,
A.k.a. ‘Mr. Opposition’
As he threw the best “opposition parties”

The parties were called ‘MOVEMENT’ parties.
They turned out to be very educational.
The ‘movement’ taught me about equality, integrity, hope, and to act always, without fear or favor.
Although ‘Mr. Opposition’ had his differences with my father, Tunku, dad always respected him greatly.

So I was introduced to my first true friend, Movement and alongside him, Dr. M&M and I looked up to them very much.

5.

Movement, the noun defines:
the act or process of moving; specif.,
a. a motion or action of a person or group
b. a shift in position
c. an evacuation (of the bowels); also, the matter evacuated

6.

May 13th, 1969

There were some tensions between some of my friends,
The ‘people of the mountains’ and
The people from the ‘middle country’
It was a power struggle and both parties
Wanted to push their ideals for the sake of my future.

It ended with the bloodshed of more than
FIVE thousand people in just one day
It started in “new village”
This was when the RAPING started.

7.

Movement defines:

A particular manner of moving

d. A series of organized activities by people working concertedly toward some goal
e. The organization consisting of those active in this way

8.

The year of 1970

I think God was crying for our country because this year we had the greatest flood, which really took a toll on Kuala Lumpur, my heart capital.

The movement party also betrayed the people by joining forces with Dr. M&M, therefore Mr. Opposition decided to stop partying with them.

9.

Movement defines:

A tendency or trend in some particular sphere of activity

10.

The year of 1973

After the terrible riots of May 13th,
The alliance of the National Line was formed.
It appeared to all my foreign friends to be the start of
‘One united Malaysia’ promoting harmony and peace but,
They had a dark secret obsession with rape,
Backstabbing us from behind, it hurt the most
When Movement and Dr. M&M joined them.
I felt so betrayed because I thought they were my friends,
I thought they would always protect me. Like a FATHER
Instead they kicked my father, Tunku out as well.
He could not do anything and was defeated.

11.
Movement defines:

The pacing, specif. the rapid pacing, of the incidents in a literary work

12.

The 1980s

The people from the middle country,
Have been forced out against their will.
The body of water has started being drained out.

“When Malaysia was formed, I expected to see
The people of the mountains, middle country and
The body of water in a place of equality
But now why can I only see the mountains?”
– Mr. Opposition

13.

Movement defines:

The effect or representation of motion in painting, sculpture, etc.

14.

The year of 1986
There was a rogue ‘army marksman’
Who on an apparent craze started shooting people?
With 400 rounds of M-16 ammunition
Down the lonely streets of Chow Kit
How he first, managed to ‘steal’, second even
Move with so much weapons from the army barracks,
I do not know.
When the police came to arrest him,
They did not open fire despite the weak effort of the
‘Army marksman’ causing havoc down Chow Kit Road
Instead they were very peaceful and the army general
Gave the marksman a hug when he put his weapons down.

15.

Movement defines:

MILITARY
A change in the location of troops, ships, etc., as part of a maneuver

COMMERCE
A change in the price of some stock or commodity

MECHANICAL
The moving parts of a mechanism; esp., a series of connected moving parts e.g. the movement of a clock

MUSIC
Any of the principal divisions of a symphony, sonata, or other extended composition

16.

April 1st, 1987

Mr. Opposition received a gift from Mother Nature.
On April fools day of 1987, in the form his 3rd granddaughter. She was the child of his second son,
‘The knowledgeable light’ and his wife ‘the refined orchid’
She was named ‘the natural beauty’.

But life really does play a fool on you sometimes because on

October 27th, 1987

The governing parties held a ‘weeding operation’ in order to
Crack down on opposition leaders and social activists.
This was ordered by my ex-beloved Dr. M&M

The operation saw the arrest of
106 persons under the ISA,
The revoking of the publishing licenses of two dailies,
The Star and the Sin Chew Jit Poh
As well as two weeklies, The Sunday Star and Watan

The ‘weeding operation’ hosted a party in the midst of the mountains and they had banners reading:

“Drown the mountain’s trees in the middle countries blood”
Said a young emerging chief of the mountains –
“Dr. Osmah Naj Iban”

He started by just supporting his father but ended up tripping on this really bad party.

The two “doctors”, Dr. M&M and Dr. Osmah Naj Iban then proceeded to carry on with more rape.

17.

The year of 1995

As Mr. Opposition’s health deteriorated after 2 strokes,
His 2nd son, ‘the knowledgeable light’ emerged.
Like his father he had the same strength, precision,
Integrity, determination, motivation and passion

He was headhunted by Movement and decided to
Put the past aside, he had the romantic and idealistic intentions of change his old friend’s heart.
The aim was to stop people like Dr. M&M and
Dr. Osmah Naj Iban from ever raping me again.

18.

October 14th, 1996

I am distraught but at the same time glad,
Mr. Opposition has just passed away after
Fighting for his life for 3 years, 3 months and 3 days.
He was bedridden for this period of time after his
Second stroke and it took him this long to pass on.
Everyone who respected and loved him came to his funeral including Dr. M&M and Dr. Osmah Naj Iban,
Indeed, I was very surprised.

Amongst the people at the funeral was an emerging leader,
The dangerous brain behind the Asian Renaissance
Sometime in 96’ when the Q.o.E was here
They tried to put him in a ‘Frame for Seduction’
Failed, so he was jailed for corruption
Just cos’ he appreciated art and
They weren’t feeling so smart
They made him out to be
A queer individual,
They shifted all the blame
Of all the RAPINGS on him
7 years in jail he sat,
4½ times the works of Shakespeare he read,
But he emerged a new man with a much stronger stand.

19.

The issues escalated and soon,
The victims of rape became identity, morality
The country’s stability, they blamed the ‘Lord’s name in vain’
But the church put them all to shame
When they turned the other cheek to
3 Institutions burned by some fools,
They planned their own fake revenge
By throwing pig’s heads in the mosques
All for the sake of disruption
To help them justify and carry on their corruption

20.

So where is this victim today
Still being raped everyday
Of people lying and stealing
Yet people still just talking and not doing

Some are there who think they are the superior race
Some are circulating sex tapes round’ our nation
How can one person who gay, screw prostitutes
And still have a say
His wife and daughter still stand strong beside him
Though the light at the end of the tunnel is growing dim

He’s had enough of the raping
And behind him, people support him
For his cause goes beyond money
And far beyond his own glory
We have to stand for the cause not the man,
Cos’ he can be jailed, killed or go insane

Our cause should be for CHANGÉ
For JUSTICE and to be given a wider range
Of vision, opportunities and light
To bring future kids the delight
Of growing up in a nation
Who brought their own transformation

The cause for change will never end
However we should still take the stand
You never know how much they can bend
And how much money the EPF lend!
So they charged some individuals for raping our land
Still their own evil deeds are hidden in the sand

I find it hard to come to one conclusion
But for now we have the right to cause an explosion
To box them out of their place
And screw their weird ideals on RACE!
Cos we already love one another,
Why do we need a stupid slogan to remind us?
About our brothers from another mother

***I have a de-coder to de-code some of the names etc.
email me, sudechabei@gmail.com if you woule like it!***

peace & love
xxx

the arTEAfar-TEAparty on a meditative MONDAY

Today is the small humble launch of my blogsite,
and a small movement called the arTEAfar-TEAparty …

technically, i am meant to be back in the UK, last weekend past, my friend Listy invited me to Somerset, for a boat party .. Pimms and the English summer, I could not wait.

However, after being back on home soil, Malaysia for a month, I found myself being exposed to “a series of unfortunate events” … which made me forego my air asia plane ticket back to Laaaanddddaaann (London), and am going to stay back in Malaysia, indefinitely till the elections.

The 10 key events that has made me make this irrational, yet extremely rational decision were:

1. feeling the need to integrate in to family life after 10 years of living away from home
2. helping my father and aunt with their political campaigns
3. NOT believing their cause at first, and wanting to find out more for myself
4. teaching a bunch of cute kids at PUSAT BANTUAN SENTUL about what art is .. and finding out myself what it meant to me !
5. sitting next to Dato’ Ibrahim Ali really randomly (head of PERKASA, pro-MALAY rights group in Malaysia)
6. speaking to people who had given up and were indifferent to the INJUSTICE in my country
7. meeting Think Lab and John-son Oei from E.P.I.C. who really inspired me to do something for Malaysia
8. going to a Malay wedding
9. going to a bloggers conference @ PWTC
10. meeting the “Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia” people who currently the top of my “most awesome people list”

So, here I am. I will be writing about my 2 passions : ART & SOCIAL CHANGE

It will be written in more of a lifestyle blog manner, as you will soon see, that art and social really is part of my life … i really cannot avoid them eeeek

so tonight, 20th June 2011 is the

“arTEAfar-TEAparty” launch,

8pm @ La Bodega Lounge, Jalan Telawi 2

the theme is “the Malaysian Family”, as it is belated father’s day.

there was too much going on yesterday, PKR conference, Bersih 2.0 launch etc to have a meaningful one with dad.

We will be looking at our countries leaders and analyzing them like they are our fathers, seeing if they have been good ones and how you would like them to act as better role models.

I have also been working on a piece of poetry, spoken-word which I will undoubtedly share which is about our country, my father and my father’s father.

peace & love,
this is SuDeChaBei