My group exhibition opens next week on Thursday, 26 July until 7 August. Please do come when you're in the city, the Gaffa Gallery is just behind the Queen Victoria Building.

After 2 weeks in Sarawak, it was time for me to go home.

So many things happened during that time that if I were to go into the details, I would be able to write a short novel!

The whole experience was nothing that I have ever thought it would be. Collaborating with students from other disciplines was an eye-opener. The people I met and spent so much time with over the two weeks would always have a dear spot in my heart.

Regardless of the fact that it was a crazy, intensive, stressful time, I would do it again.

My group's Cahaya Songket project received very good feedback. Dr Ngo commented that it would be a viable product to pursue. We'll see how that pans out (perhaps a second trip to Sarawak? Who knows?!)

~ Extra Stuff ~

• I had a scary experience while staying at UNIMAS campus. Dai and I stayed up until 4am at the computer labs to work on the designs for Cahaya Songket. As we walked back to the Alamanda Hostel, I suddenly had a panic attack. Like as if I was in danger and someone/something malicious was following us. That feeling quickly went away after we had walked a certain distance... creepy!
• When we started the trip, I noticed that my name was misspelled as Irineo (with the 'o' at the end). I ignored it, thinking that it was just an attendance list. Unfortunately, that was how my name was printed in all of the publications - exhibition name list, certificate of participation, etc. Oh well...
• We managed to go to the orang utan sanctuary in Semenggoh Nature Reserve. It was amazing, totally recommended for you to go!

The past week after Nanga Sumpa has been a blur.

We've been assigned groups to produce work based on our experience in Sarawak so far. I was in a group with Dai, Nicole and Alicia.

At this stage of the course, I was reminded that we were basically cramming a whole semester's worth of work into less than 2 weeks (minus all the trips we did). Neither one of us slept very much that week.

My group responded to the brief by first evaluating the issues faced by local artisans, and the materials or resources already available locally. We kept in mind the need to retain traditional handicraft professions.

We came up with the design of Cahaya Songket, a wall light fixture made up of ceramics and songket textile. The name Cahaya Songket has a double meaning, representing the object as a lighting application but also as what we hoped to be a new direction for the use of Songket. Cahaya Songket incorporates both Songket fabric and ceramics which can be used as wall tiles, lighting,  covering, and at the same time, as a form of art. Cahaya Songket is modular, made up of many pieces of ceramics tiles wrapped in Songket.

At the end of our second week in Sarawak, we held a group exhibition at UNIMAS.