Aiwei Foo

8 Nov – 7 Dec 2025

8 Nov
2.30pm – Opening Reception
3.00pm – Artist’s Performance

Suma Orientalis Fine Art is delighted to present Aiwei Foo’s new body of works which examine the connection between migration, personal memory, and the environmental and economic conditions shaping Sarawak. Born in Miri, Foo recalls moonlight casted on her childhood bed. The exhibition title refers to this private memory and lightly echoes the familiar imagery in Li Bai’s poem Quiet Night’s Thought, which evokes longing for one’s place of origin.

The works presented investigate what remains once a person leaves home. Foo records streets she once walked in Sarawak, the names of strangers from Borneo who have relocated, and the conversion of forests into extractive resources. Rather than producing explicit representations of these subjects, she uses carbon paper, erasure, pepper, palm oil, and tree branches as material methods for documenting traces that are at risk of disappearing. These materials reflect both significant industries in Sarawak and components of daily life.

The exhibition reflects on how migration affects what is remembered and what becomes less visible, as part of a larger conversation about endurance, adaptation, and shared responsibility. It considers migration from both personal and structural perspectives. On an individual level, it recognises relocation as an intimate choice shaped by necessity and resilience.

On a societal level, it questions whether such movement has become an unavoidable condition of modern life or whether it reveals deeper systemic shortcomings, where the yield of our own land is no longer sufficient to sustain its people.

At the opening reception, Foo will present a one-hour performance that extends the exhibition’s reflection on movement, heritage, and sustenance.

In this act of making and sharing rice dumplings based on Indigenous Sarawak traditions, the artist connects gesture, labor, and collective memory. The performance invites audiences to reflect on the paths taken by past generations and on the ongoing journeys undertaken for livelihood and survival.  

About Aiwei Foo, B. Sarawak, Malaysia
Foo graduated with a Master’s Degree in Fashion and Clothing Design from Aalto University, Finland in 2013. Prior to that, she has earned the Diploma in Apparel Design & Merchandising at Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore (2006) and a Diploma in Fine Arts at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore (2000).

A multi-disciplinary artist and designer, she is known for her unique approach to art and performance, as well as experimental music and fashion. Her accolades include a nomination as Artist Ambassador for Japan Art Travel by the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) (Hokkaido, Japan, 2019), the Judge Prize at the Unknown Asia Art Exchange in Osaka and Jam Factory Bangkok, Thailand (2016), the Masakazu Takei Award at the Unknown Asia Art Exchange in Osaka and Foil Gallery in Kyoto, Japan (2016), and the First Prize at the Pierre Cardin Design Competition in Singapore (2004).