Commissioned Essays
Selected Works
Persisting the right to subsist
Essay commissioned by Singapore Art Museum for ‘Lonely Vectors’ publication+exhibition (2021-22)
‘Persisting the right to subsist,’ pp.42-47, Lonely Vectors
This essay shares insights from
my research trip for PLATES, Vol.2: Durian and discusses the impact of one-sided development, as told by the indigenous Orang Asli Temiar people of West Malaysia.
The essay concludes with social commentary on performative ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘cottage-core’ living,
in the hopes of leaving the urban reader with additional food for thought.
Read the essay on JStor (open source) — (pp.42-47)
Lonely Vectors, Singapore Art Museum
Publication date: 2023 (hardcover edition), 2022 (paperback edition, pictured right)
Publisher: National Gallery Singapore
Specs: 18 x 1.3 x 12.1 cm | 176 pages
Replating the Lens
Essay and live sketches commissioned by Further Reading Press (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Replating the Lens, pp.30-25, Serving Suggestions, Issue #03 (2025-26)
Publisher: Further Reading Press (Jakarta, Indonesia)
This essay, a response to social media tourism and intrusive photography habits, provides an insight into the ethos behind live sketching as an
ethnographic technique as a way for rapport-building. Three sketches were published.
Pictured: two children playing with rocks and sticks by a jackfruit tree in an Orang Asli (indigenous people) Mah Meri (tribe) on Carey Island, Selangor, Malaysia.
Picture, left: Serving Suggestion Issue #03 front cover | right: Scene sketched on site by Dee May Tan during a volunteer delivery-run with an independent indigenous arts and crafts advocacy group.
Independent Journalism
Selected Works
Orange was the New Black: the Shifting Plates and Palates of Karo
Selected by the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) 2022 Annual Food Writing Awards (Los Angeles/New York, USA) for best Gastronomy and
Travel Writing, winning alongside an article by Condé Nast Traveler.
Self-published: PLATES, Vol.4: Seeds (2021)
Process: Storygathered between 2019-2020. Post-produced while in residency at Rimbun Dahan (2020-2021).
Summary: Set across several villages in the Karo district in North Sumatra, this story explores themes of resilience and disparity of how farmers began to replace their award-winning orange trees with coffee, the people intertwined by chance, those who were drawn to its prospects, and those who remained in the margins.
Thorn Down by a Spike in Interest
How durian frenzy is fuelling an indigenous land struggle in Malaysia
Self-published: PLATES, Vol.2: Durian (2020)
Story co-reported with Emily Ding
A Grainy Gamble
Self-published: PLATES, Vol.1: Rice (2019)
Summary: Stories from the fields of marginalised rice farmers of the Lun Bawang ethnic group, documented in Long Semadoh, near the Kalimantan-Sarawak in Borneo — a two-day door-to-door journey from Kuala Lumpur
Rapporteuring
Independent Rapporteur (Contract)
Provide fair, impartial documentation and reports for NGOs as an independent third party observer at multi-day international conferences, national workshops, town halls and meetings.
Clients
- Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) – 2024
- Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) coalition Malaysia – 2024
- KRYSS Network (Malaysia)– 2024
- Special Olympics Malaysia – 2013