Photo: Ella Mckanny
THERE YOU ARE (2025) brings together individually titled works across various mediums, including an installation, a short documentary film and paintings. This research explores alternative ways of incorporating archival and found objects that once belonged to my late grandparents, while engaging with notions of post-memory and cultural preservation through art. It is an ongoing process of self-discovery, one that understands the past not as something to be frozen in time, but as something that continues to shape new and versatile creative forms. Growing up, I was surrounded by rich traditions and stories passed down through generations. However, I never had the opportunity to meet my maternal grandparents or my paternal grandfather, and my paternal grandmother passed away when I was just nine years old. As the years went by, I became increasingly curious about how they truly lived their lives. It is a longing to know. Did they dream? Did they feel joy? As I moved further from the physical and emotional spaces of home, I began to question what it truly means to belong.
Call to Prayer (2025) is a short documentary film composed of multiple shots from my time in Pulau Pinang, an island in Malaysia where generations of my family were born, raised and lived. 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, and 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, 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 from painting to installation as a way of making.
