IDNO

DG.101935.PAO

Description

A group of five young men, some with 1980s-style haircuts, sit on the floor of a house around a kasah (rattan and bark mat), eating rice and other food off plates and drinking beer from bottles and small glasses. They mostly wear shirts or tee-shirts and jeans. The man on the right wears a red football jersey, possibly an imitation of the Manchester United shirt.
The room has a cement floor and unpainted cement walls, a wooden door and two large rectangular wooden windows through which foliage and the split bamboo walls of a raised ?hut can be seen. In one corner is a wardrobe with a small mirror, covered in green patterned ?linoleum. Next to it are a pillow and patterned ?sheet.

Place

SE Asia Borneo; Malaysia; Sarawak; Penrissen; Kampung Benuk [Kampung Segu Bunuk]

Cultural Affliation

Bidayuh [historically Land Dayak]

Named Person

Photographer

?Paka anak Otor

Collector / Expedition

Paka anak Otor

Date

circa 1980 - 1990

Collection Name

Paka anak Otor Collection

Source

Paka anak OtorChua, Liana

Format

Print Colour

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Source: A selection of 185 prints from Paka anak Otor’s larger collection of approximately 500 prints was made by Liana Chua during fieldwork in Kampung Benuk, Sarawak, Malaysia, in 2005. The purchase of non-exclusive reproduction rights [RM 1845, £250] by the Museum to the family of Paka anak Otor [82 Kampung Benuk, Jalan Puncak Borneo, Kuching 93250, Sarawak, Malaysia], and digital copy photographs of the collection [RM 869, £125] were paid for by the Museum Acquisition Fund [£250] and part of a Crowther-Beynon grant [£125] for the collecting of Sarawak objects. The digital scans were made by Fung Huang Colour Photo Centre [153 Padungan Road, Kuching, Sarawak] in 2005. [Liana Chua 2/8/2007]

Context: Detached cement houses became increasingly common in Kampung Benuk and other villages from the 1980s, and today are the most widespread form of dwelling in these areas. At the time, objects like the cabinet would have been important new prestige items which revealed the household’s increasing income and ‘modernness’. [Liana Chua 24/8/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Liana Chua 24/8/2007]