It was merely a seed of a simple dream – to pay tribute to my beloved grandfather, whom I loved, respected and has inspired in many ways throughout my growing years.
I grew up in a small town in Johore, watching my grandfather producing copra for a living.
I used to visit him at his workshop with my siblings when I was little. We were the “child labour”, for fun, of course.
I was fortunate enough to grow up seeing how he has fed his family of more than 10 with the skills that he owned as a craftsman. I was blessed to witness what difference it could make when family members worked together as one.
To me, it was the most incredible thing to see how he cracked the coconuts that he picked and collected the thick white kernel.
But perhaps it was a job too tough to carry on. None in the family continue in what he did after he passed on, and the childhood memories that I had when I was a little girl became a precious picture that reminds me about the one dream that we shared together.
I created Your Memories Our Identity not only because I wanted to remember my beloved grandfather, but also to bring to the attention of the younger generations, be it in our family or others in the society, about what our predecessors did back then.
I travelled down the memory lane when I visited the artisans who agreed to share their profession and life stories with us. I was almost that little girl who watches her grandfather breaking the hard coconut shell and shaving the pulps for the white snowy flakes.
Only this time I saw more.
From left to right:
Working partner and soul mate of my grandfather demonstrating the process of produce the copra.
The worker is plucking the coconut from tree with pole pruner.
Photo credit: Brian Chua
I saw the beauty and value of these declining industries from a different perspective, which embodied respect and gratitude. Most importantly, I realised about the spirit of it and how it is transformed into wisdom for future generations.
They are undoubtedly the fundamental of modern civilisation. And for that, I wish to do my part to keep it alive.
Our world gets to become better because of the strong foundation set by our predecessors. Our world becomes better because we cherish, remember, and improve their efforts.
As soon as I made the decision to do something about it, not only to relate, demonstrate, and record how old has inspired us, but also to create a new presentation using arts and performing arts, I knew I have to go back to where it began.