Suma Orientalis Fine Art is delighted to present “Eating The Hills” by YONGL, an emerging visual artist from Kuala Lumpur, feat Kinta Valley Watch, a community-based conservation group.

Through masterful photo montage and a keen eye for capturing the enchanting landscape of the Peninsula Malaysia, YONGL turns his surroundings into a captivating playground for his boundless imagination. Seamlessly blending gastronomical elements, Malaysian cultural motifs, and the natural beauty of his homeland, he creates visually charming compositions that explore the potential of digital images to its finest. Flavours mingle, and textures harmonise in surreal combinations of figures and pictures, melding into a dreamlike layering of everyday Malaysian life scenes.

In his first ever solo exhibition at Suma Orientalis Fine Art, the artist goes beyond the mere aesthetic appeal of his creations and delves into pressing environmental concerns which deeply resonate with the inhabitants of this land. In “Eating The Hills”, YONGL delicately visualises the devastating impacts caused by extensive quarrying activities on the mountains of Kinta Valley, Perak. Everyday gestures and actions are projected on an immense scale, where rock beds and trees turn into fine patisseries ready for serving. The artist invites us to re-examine the situation with a refreshing perspective.

For contextual background, this exhibition features Kinta Valley Watch — a passionate, community-driven environmental conservation group based in Ipoh which would feature their research alongside his images. They charted the entire valley area, marking the precise locations of mountains, hills, caves, and forests that emerged and disappeared in recent years, as a result of the insatiable resource-draining modernisation.

Devoured and shaved, consumed and thrown away, the once-standing mountain vanished into the invisible heights of nowhere. As YONGL questions the actions of the bystanders and onlookers, the names of the hills are fading into oblivion, becoming a part of Perak’s long-lost memories.

YONGL

Born in 1995 in Penang, YONGL is an emerging visual artist who currently lives and works in Kuala Lumpur. His works often involve photo-montage, where elements of Malaysian cultural motifs, local gastronomies and landscapes were smoothly merged and composed. These images aim to explore and represent the potential perspectives of everyday Malaysian life scenes.

Graduated from Multimedia University (2017), he has won several awards and has been shortlisted in renowned competitions. His accolades include Adobe Design Achievement Awards Photography Top Talent (2019), Sony World Photography Awards Youth Photographer of The Year (2015), and Nando’s Art Initiative Digital Art Grand Prize (2015).

Kinta Valley Watch

Based in Ipoh, Kinta Valley Watch is a community-based conservation group that has been monitoring the environmental development of Kinta Valley since 2019. As a non-governmental organisation, its goal is to preserve and promote the natural treasures of the Kinta Valley mountains, which boast the largest limestone karst landscapes in Peninsular Malaysia. To achieve this, it hosts educational tours as well as workshops on pristine limestone hills and the entire ecosystem of the Kinta Valley. In collaboration with researchers, it has conducted studies on the endemic cave fauna and discovered several archaeological heritage sites, including cave paintings and fossils.