11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

The fabrics used by Yim are significant for their association with poverty, migration and waste, and with the environmental damage and pollution caused by throwaway fast fashion and excess packaging. The artist works side by side with a small team of local women to make the sculptures, allowing her to share their experiences and stories, and she considers this collective, collaborative work part of her large-scale sculptural practice and a means to connect with others. Yim’s works on paper and cardboard complement her sculptures in their exploration of biomorphic, organic forms, and share their layered, textured sensibility. She works on paper with irregular borders, using acrylic paint as well as pencil and ink, and adding clay to create depth. As their titles suggest, No perspective 1 and No perspective 2 , both from 2020, seem to defy their two-dimensionality, offering aerial, microscopic and immersive views of a forest of mysterious organisms. Sunset at the south of Cambodia 2020 has a landscape at its centre, with misty tendrils and shadowy semi-human forms surrounded by encroaching, irregular borders. Although Yim’s works allude to ongoing conflict and destruction occurring in many parts of the globe, her investigation of the natural world and our human relationship to it ultimately gives her hope and the encouragement to continue making art: I am a part of nature, so I learn from the environment around me by observing, looking, and touching . . . The act of creating is inspiring in itself, by revealing the endless possibilities of where your art can take you. 2 ABIGAIL BERNAL Sunset at the south of Cambodia 2020 / Acrylic, paper, pen, pencil, clay, ink, handmade paper / 140 × 208cm / Courtesy: The artist YimMaline grew up in the wake of an extended period of civil war in Cambodia, when she and many others experienced poverty and displacement. As a result of her understanding of fragility and destruction, Yim is committed to nurturing growth in both human relationships and the natural world. With her partner, artist Svay Sareth, in 2022 she established the Blue Art Center — a studio and teaching space on the outskirts of Siem Reap. Today, Yim lives and works there among plants and gardens, mentoring and teaching an emerging generation of children. In her soft sculptures, Yim transforms non-precious or mundane materials — such as recycled fabrics, foam, wire and cardboard — into meticulously crafted objects of ambitious scale that evoke the natural world, from landscapes to plants, animals and fungal organisms. Amorphous shapes in blacks, reds, greens, browns and oranges, with protruding tendrils and padded forms, are displayed on the wall, draped over plinths, or suspended from above, suggesting both flowering and decomposition. Commenting on her humble, handmade approach to creating these works, Yim remarks: Like many other children during my time, we invented and made our own toys. I liked making things by my hands. I also grew a garden. My art practice is very similar: I create things by my own hands. 1 While the intimate, reassuring handmade nature of the sculptures may at first entice viewers, on closer inspection their uneven surfaces reveal ruptures, fissures and erosion. Some forms are green and sprouting (such as the ominously titled Natural disaster 2023), while others — like Furniture 2023 and the immense Just a branch of flowers 2023 — are blackened as though burnt. The result of fire 2023 is red and black with golden dotted circles, recalling burning embers or spreading lava. Other works, such as Nest 2023, are suggestive of lichen and fungi — organisms complex in texture and colour that are capable of surviving in challenging environments. BORN 1982, BATTAMBANG, CAMBODIA LIVES+WORKS INSIEMREAP, CAMBODIA YIMMALINE NOTES 1 ‘Transparent Studio: interview with Yim Maline’, Transparent Studio , 5 June 2013, <plus91archivesblog. wordpress.com/2013/06/05/ transparent-studio-interview-with- yim-maline/>, viewed May 2024. 2 Zara Zhuang, ‘State of the art: To Yim Maline, being an artist is about making connections with the world’, Grazia , <grazia.sg/culture/ yim-maline-contemporary-artist/>, viewed May 2024. ARTISTS+PROJECTS ASIAPACIFICTRIENNIAL 212 — 213