Photo: Ella Mckanny
ACAE Gallery Award: winner
THERE YOU ARE (2025) brings together individually titled works across various mediums, including an installation, a short film documentary and paintings. This research explores themes of memory and belonging, while engaging with the act of cultural preservation through art. The genesis of this project is in my hometown, Pulau Pinang, a small island in Malaysia where my family of generations was born and raised. As i moved further from the physical and emotional spaces of my home, i began to question what it means to belong.
Call to Prayer (2025) is a short documentary film composed of multiple shots from my time in Pulau Pinang. The film is accompanied by the sound of the Azan; the Islamic call to prayer playing throughout. This work reflects my interest in engaging the five senses within my practice. They serve as my creative compass, guiding how I choose materials and mediums that add emotional and conceptual depth to my work. I began by listing what I often hear, feel, smell, touch, and see when I return to Pulau Pinang. The Azan is a sound I hear five times a day back home, making the process of creating this film deeply nostalgic and intimate.
1958 (2025) is a large-scale fabric installation measuring 3 metres by 1.5 metres. It involves 1,958 teabags in cyanotype featuring three different images, repeated from the wedding of my late grandparents, who were married in 1958. The work also includes organically dyeing the cotton fabric with turmeric and tea, followed by stitching the teabags onto the fabric. Through this work, I reflect on the values of adat, the traditional customs and practices that shape how communities live and interact. I was inspired by merewang, a Malaysian communal tradition where families and friends come together to prepare for special occasions such as weddings. In a similar spirit, I invited my artist friends to help me sew the teabags and what later became known as ‘the sewing circle’. As we worked, conversations flowed for hours. The collective process mirrored the essence of merewang, where the act of gathering holds as much meaning as the final outcome. This work, therefore, carries not just my own effort but also the hands and voices of my friends; a shared experience of labour, learning, and care.
A HEARTFELT THANK YOU TO THE SEWING CIRCLE : Arabella Mccormack, Ashlin Lyons, Ella Mckanny, Ella Robins, Eliza Baker, Isabelle Hacon, Isabelle Beggs, Lisa Solih, Maree Nikimaya, Maya Rogers, Millie Hopton, Piper Evison, Toni Vallance, Tully Mitchell, and Zahra O’dea.
Rania Hisham is an emerging multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, now based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. Her practice engages with archives while exploring notions of home and memory, using a range of mediums as a way of making.
