'Budi's Song' featuring Tepo Putih Ikan Masin (Salted Fish White Mat).

Yee I-Lann, 2023. Single-channel film, 00:12:37, loop.

Collection of the Artist. Courtesy the Artist; Silverlens. © Yee I-lann

'Tepo Putih Ikan Masin' (Salted Fish White Mat)

Noraidah Jabarah, or Kak Budi as she is called by her community sings a lament song in the film 'Budi's Song'. Kak Budi was born on a lepa houseboat and has always lived on the sea. She is the diva amongst the group of Bajau Sama Dilaut weavers living at Omadal Island between the Sulu and Celebes Seas off the northeast of Borneo Island state of Sabah. She was married at age 12 to Abang Annerati (Annik) and has 11 children, the youngest Marini was born to them during Covid years. Kak Budi is from a family that is good at weaving. She learnt weaving from her mother and grandmother. Her late grandmother once said to her "if you are not good in weaving you are not woman, you are man." Before becoming part of the weaving team, she spent time with her husband Abang Annik going to sea looking for seaweed 'agar batu' to sell in Semporna town in Sabah and in the southern Philippines. When she was not going to sea, she would be processing fish caught by her husband to make salted fish 'ikan masin' to sell. She is now a fulltime weaver which she enjoys very much. She says she is so busy with weaving her husband has to look after the children. Kak Budi has a character that likes to make fun, jokes, likes to sing and dance and is very good at combining colours. Amongst her group, Kak Budi is also assigned to find and prepare the pandanus leaves for weaving. 

'Tepo Putih Ikan Masin' is a monumental mat made up of other mats once used for drying fish and other domestic tasks in the homes and villages in the northern Peninsular Malaysian states of Terengganu, Perak and Kelantan as well as from Omadal Island, Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. They have been sewn and patched together using the flotsam and jetsam of plastic rubbish collected from the beaches of Omadal Island bordering the Sulu and Celebes Seas off the northeast of Borneo Island. Perhaps you can smell the sea and salted dried fish as you encounter the mat. Perhaps you may recognise some of the plastic rubbish brought in by the tides, mark-making littoral drifts in a calligraphy of stories from other shores, describing a world in crisis.

Mat woven by Abang Annerati (Annik), Abang Boby, Darwisa Binti Omar, Dayang Binti Tularan, Erna Binti Tekki, Kak Lorna, Adik Marsha, Noraidah Jabarah (Kak Budi), Roziah Binti Jalalid, Shima Binti Manan, Tasya Binti Tularan, Adik Umairah.

Full film credits: 

A film by Yee I-Lann 

Song by Noraidah Jabarah (Kak Budi)

Performance and 'Tepo Putih Ikan Masin' mat woven by Abang Annerati (Annik), Abang Boby, Darwisa Binti Omar, Dayang Binti Tularan, Erna Binti Tekki, Kak Lorna, Adik Marsha, Noraidah Jabarah (Kak Budi), Roziah Binti Jalalid, Shima Binti Manan, Tasya Binti Tularan, Adik Umairah.

Drone Piloting and Camera: Andy Chia Chee Shiong 

Sound Designer: Chris Pereira 

Editor: Andy Chia Chee Shiong 

Production Coordinator: Venice Foo

Field Coordinator: Roziah Binti Jalalid

Production Assistant: Darwisa Binti Omar 

Bajau Translations by: Zuber Sunario 

Subtitles: Thira Mohamad 

Location: Tetagan Island, Tun Sakaran Marine Park, Sabah

'Oh My Dalling' (2022) explores linguistics and aesthetics through the weavers and their communities living at Omadal Island bordering the Sulu-Celebes Seas off northeast Borneo Island. The soundtrack is led by weaver Kak Budi singing improvised lyrics to common Bajau popular tunes. The tunes, and the etymology of words we hear, reflect colonial histories and the geopolitics of the region. Kak Budi sings about her friends, activities, hopes and lives of those around her. The film features 'Billboard' a large scale weave of heritage Bajau Sama Dilaut iconic motifs. Weaving is an inheritance of coded rhythms shared amongst women, a language full of ideas reflecting a community’s world views. The largely alphabet illiterate weavers at Omadal don’t use inches or centimetres to measure but use their bodies. The length of a mat is measured using a principle weaver's foot danced along the mat's edge. What counts is the somatic life you embed into the mat. When you take the first step, you say aloud, “Allom!” (“Life!”). When the next heel touches the previous toe, you say aloud, “Amatai!” (“Dead!”). Then with the next foot you say, “Allom!” then “Amatai!” and onwards. You must start with allom and end with allom. This film starts with that corporeal dance and ends with the planned footprint of 'Balai Bikin' (Making Hall) that the weavers and Yee I-Lann are working towards building.

Full film credits:
A film by Yee I-Lann 

Cinematography: Andy Chia Chee Shiong 

Assistant photography & field sound recordings: Sri Sharmila Indi Asha
Translator (Malay, Bajau Tempatan, Bajau Sama DiLaut): Zuber Sunario
Field Coordinator: Roziah Binti Jalalid
Production Assistant: Venice Foo
Arkitrek Camps “Balai Bikin”architect: Nur Filzah JamJam
Featuring: Kinnuhong Gundasali, Noraidah Jabarah (Kak Budi), Sanah Belasani, Roziah Binti Jalalid, Darwisa Binti Omar, Mohd Rafi Barahim, Abang Tularan, Mazlan, Kayyum, Abang Annerati (Annik), Dela Binti Annerati and baby Ismail, Cikgu Jefri, Cikgu Rahmat, the students of Iskul Sama DiLaut Omadal and the communities of Omadal Island
Songs with improvised lyrics to the tunes of “Oh My Darling”& “Dalling-Dalling” by Noraidah Jabarah (Kak Budi)

Weaving and mat-making is multigenerational and multilingual in the sense that communities can read and learn from each other's motifs. We made a dictionary of heritage patterns of the Bajau peoples that outstretches national borders, it is a cultural bridge across geopolitics.

The 5 motifs from top to bottom:

1) Corak Binatak Lantai Kusta Maglamud, Nepeyut Sasa Omang Kusta Tinabid / Corak Papan lantai, tapak jalanan ketam dengan cara anyam bercampur 'nepeyut' dan 'tinabid' / Floor planks with crab tracks with the mixed 'nepeyut' and 'tinabid' weaving methods.

2) Corak Cermin Mata Laut Nepeyut / Cermin mata penyelam cara anyam 'nepeyut' / Diver's goggles with the 'nepeyut' weaving method.

3) Corak Sambulayang - Bendera sambulayang / Lepa houseboat ceremonial sambulayang flag.

4) Corak Harunan Motol / Tangga perahu / Boat’s ladder or steps.

5) Corak Binatak Lantai / Papan lantai / Floor planks.

"With the woven mat, tikar, I address how we share space. Weaving is an inheritance of coded rhythms shared amongst women, a language full of ideas reflecting a community’s world views. I’m working with weavers who have lived at sea for centuries, with no paper identity but a rich knowledge and culture. Historically, we had no tables in Southeast Asia; we sat and met on mats. Tables came in with others – the Malay word meja derives from the Portuguese mesa. The table, to me, represents the violence of patriarchal, colonial administration, which declares, via the census, land survey, school, and museum: “I tell you who you are.” The mat remembers feminist, egalitarian communities. TIKAR/ MEJA juxtaposes the power of the table against the power of the mat. A table on a mat is like a stone on paper in a game of rock-paper- scissors, when my open hand encloses your fist. To decolonise is to see the table and to see the mat."

Writing by the artist.