BATU ARANG: A narrow and winding road leads to Cheng Yen Pheng’s home in Batu Arang, where the artist has lived for the past seven years.
It is here that she tends to the many mulberry trees she has planted over the years, so she can harvest its bark to make paper for her art projects.
On paper (no pun intended), the process may seem tiring, but Cheng told FMT that she derives great joy in producing the end product, knowing that she herself handmade her own blank canvas.
“I start by cutting down the branches, then peeling off and air-drying the outer bark,” she said, explaining that this is the easy part.
Next comes boiling the outer bark to soften it, then beating it to a pulp and blending it to achieve a finer texture. It is then spread out in a thin layer on a silkscreen frame before being air-dried under the sun.
“Of course, the whole process has a lot more smaller steps, but that’s the gist of it,” she said.
Cheng became intrigued with paper making after attending a workshop in Thailand during a trip there in 2017. “When I came home, I realised the mulberry trees I had in my garden can also be used to make paper, so in a way I think it was meant to be.”
She said making her own paper for her artwork allowed her to become self-sufficient. “The process itself isn’t difficult, but it is time-consuming and can get repetitive,” she said.
The 40-year-old artist, who was born in Penang, has always had a fondness for art. “I come from a traditional family, so my parents didn’t plan too much for me and my siblings, letting us decide for ourselves what we wanted to do when we grew up,” she said.
She recalled a time during her childhood when she used to draw pretty pictures of Chang-Er (the Chinese goddess of the moon) come Mid-Autumn Festival. She said her aunt, who also had a penchant for art, was her inspiration.
After graduating with a diploma in fine arts from the Dasien Academy of Arts, she became a full-time artist. Her painting called “Tug of War: My Homeland” clinched UOB’s 2019 Painting of the Year (Malaysia) award.
Cheng said her art is often based on her own life experiences, and she loves exploring different mediums to express her artistic style, from her earlier oil paintings to her present work made from the paper she hand-makes.
“It takes a tremendous amount of self-discipline to make paper,” Cheng added. “So if all you want are quick results or what’s convenient, it’ll be very easy to throw in the towel.
“I would be lying if I say I didn’t have some doubts before, but I have learnt that, at the end of the day, the process allows me to understand myself and the land around me better.”
The artist said her art style and outlook in life has certainly evolved after giving birth to her now eight-year-old daughter.
“Humans are naturally scared of the unknown, but after becoming a mother I feel braver in expressing myself, and learning we can make a lot of things ourselves without taking the easy way out and buying them.
“Sometimes I feel my artwork is just a finished visual product, and what I appreciate and cherish more is the process of creating it,” Cheng concluded.
Register for Cheng’s mulberry paper-making workshop here, or click here for more information on the ‘When the land tortoise meets the sea turtle’ project.
Mulberry paper-making workshop
Where:
Badan Warisan Malaysia Heritage Centre,
No 2, Jalan Stonor,
50450 Kuala Lumpur
When:
Saturday, May 27
Session 1: 10am-12pm
Session 2: 2pm-4pm
Fees: RM250 (BWM Heritage Centre member) / RM300 (non-members)