A Co-creation Project : A Childhood Dream and Memory

• Main Author: Mohamad Faizuan, Mat
• Format: Article
• Language: English; English
• Published: Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney Australia 2020
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General); HT Communities. Classes. Races; N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR; NA Architecture; NB Sculpture; NC Drawing Design Illustration
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/32760/4/Mohamad%20Faizuan%20Mat.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/32760/1/index.html; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/32760/; http://www.4a.com.au/4a_papers_article/usungan/

The year was 1994. We were having a big celebration for the annual khatamal Al-Quran parade in my little hometown of Kabong in Malaysia. I was one of the 30 participating kids who were carried around the parade in an usungan, also known as a palanquin structure consisting of a chair mounted between two poles—generally used to carry a person of status. In the coastal area of Sarawak, including Belawai and Kabong, usungan parades are held to celebrate newly-married couples during their wedding days and primary school children age from seven to 12 who have completed their Quranic studies. This customary practice has been around since the olden days and is a much-anticipated event among the local community. A variety of usungan designs are used to parade the ‘graduates’ along the main road of the village, including aeroplanes, cars, motorbikes, flowers, fishes, and even a replica of a mosque. The designs were requested by us—the participants—and our families had to fulfil our requests.