Pak Dain with wayang kulit figures used during his workshop on the art of making shadow puppets.
A wipeout into a sea of rubbish over two decades ago prompted Ernest Goh to shed light on the growing plastic pollution crisis.
The artist and photographer founded the “Ayer Ayer” project – an initiative that uses art and public participation to spread awareness about plastic pollution in the seas.
He said the surfing incident in Bali, Indonesia, sparked an interest that made him want to understand the issue more.
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“I fell off my surfboard. As I plunged into the ocean, I also plunged into a sea of rubbish.
“This is not something that I just see there, but also everywhere else in the world.
“It got me thinking – why must I deal with other people’s rubbish?
“I clean up after myself. Why do I have to clean up after other people too?” Goh said in an interview during Ombak Festival.
Goh, a Singaporean, said the problem of ocean plastic pollution had since been ruminating in his mind and he knew he needed to do something about it.
“In 2017, I got a grant from a local foundation to produce an artwork.
“I knew that I wanted it to be something out of plastic, but I was not sure what it should be at first.
Goh with microplastics collected from beaches in Malaysia.
“So, I walked around Punggol beach (in Singapore) and of course, there was plastic rubbish, but there were also smaller pieces of plastic.”
These microplastics, he said, were disintegrated plastic that were between 1mm and 5mm.
“We always talk about how plastics are bad for the ocean and aquatic life, but microplastic poses a direct danger to humans as we could ingest it.
“I was shocked when I found out about its dangers and so decided to focus on microplastics,” he added.
Goh said he used the grant to make enlarged photos of the microplastics, which later led to the “Ayer Ayer” project.
“Our first project was the Punggol shore debris table – a 10m-long table that mimics the coastline of Punggol beach and made from microplastic fragments found on the beach,” he said, adding that the artwork was created through public participation.
He then initiated the Malaya shore debris table, a similar concept featuring the coastlines of Malaysia and Singapore.
Goh’s shore debris table was also featured at Ombak Festival, where the public could participate by picking up pieces of microplastics found on the beach to create their own miniature artwork.
Another highlight of the festival was Star Wars-inspired wayang kulit (shadow puppetry) led by Muhammad Dain Othman, 71, fondly known as Pak Dain.
The 13th accredited tok dalang (master puppeteer) and former civil servant has kept the traditional Kelantan wayang kulit alive over four decades.
He has even forked out thousands of ringgit to open up a gallery in Kelantan.
“I retired from government service about 15 years ago and have since been focusing on this art full-time,” he said.
A few years after his retirement, he started collaborating with Tintoy Chuo and Take Huat, who founded Fusion Wayang Kulit.
They are known for merging the traditional art of shadow puppetry with the modern world.
“I wanted to make sure that the traditional elements of wayang kulit are maintained in the fusion shows,” said Dain, adding that the group performed their first wayang kulit in 2013.
Dain also held a workshop during the festival where he shared about the art of making wayang kulit puppets.
