
Tiyan Baker is an artist that centres her Bidayǔh culture in her works by exploring the connections between the Bidayǔh language, ancestral land, the body, knowing and seeing.
In this talk, she will share her story of learning Bukar Bidayǔh from scratch, how her study has culminated in a body of artwork and research, and where she will be going with it next. Bukar Bidayǔh is her mother’s native tongue and is spoken by the indigenous Bidayǔh people who live in villages at the base of the Bung Sadung mountain range, a two-hour drive from the capital city of Sarawak, Kuching. Where learning a language today is often regimented by encyclopaedic dictionaries and pedagogies, Baker’s endeavour to learn Bukar Bidayǔh far from the land it originated is a celebration of the imperfections and mutations of language. Baker’s interest in access to pre colonial knowledge and relationships that language might offer can be seen through her approach to Bukar Bidayǔh as technology and as a system of thought.
Registration Link: https://tiyanbaker.peatix.com
Venue: Level 3, EX-SITU, #03-07, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
When: 23 Nov 2024, 11am - 12noon
By: Singapore Art Museum (SAM)