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Kota Kinabalu: The two-month 14th Sabah Women Art Exhibition Kesuma kicked off at the Sabah Art Gallery (SAG) on Aug 10.

SAG Deputy Director Eva Baggai said it was to encourage women artists to be more active in pursuing their dreams and help bring talented artists into the limelight.

“It is aimed to expose women’s creativity to the public and introduce the uniqueness of their work.

“The exhibition is aimed at encouraging them to be more active and be open in their artistry work.

Stone art, another peculiar art piece, by Joanna Gyne Mojiol.

“Kesuma means flower or a beautiful, fine woman thus, making flowers as the theme for this year’s exhibition,” she said.

More than 100 woman exhibitors showcased their masterpieces, including veteran artist Christiane Goonting.

Six artworks of hers were on display and a huge-sized bird sculpture was also part of the exhibit item.

The Kesuma bird was made of fibre glass (for the base) by Japson Wong as her assistant, while major task of decoupage artwork was done by Christiane. It took her one month to finish.

Tan Sheau Ling, originally from Kedah, and currently living in Kudat said she had been into arts since 11 years ago.

Her artwork entitled “Come together” was a drawing of a few colourful Koi fish in a waterlily pond, one of the attractions at the gallery.

She conveyed her profound gratitude to SAG for recognising her work since 2012.

As of today, she produced more than 100 artworks including sketches.

“My first painting was with KPTNS (Karya Pilihan Tahunan Negeri Sabah) competition in year 2012 and won at State-level. Then my artwork was collected by SAG.

“In the same year, the exhibition started where I also joined Sabah Women’s Art,” said Tan.

Donna Lai of Kg Pangasaan, Tamparuli, who is in her 40s, had been inclined to art since her teens. But she took her hobby more seriously in 2014 when she participated in the 1st installation Art By The Bay in Kota Kinabalu.

Donna with two of her artworks. 

She submitted two of her artworks namely “Heart in Heaven” and “Beauties and the Beasts” for Kesuma.

She related her recent losses of a nephew due to heart failure and her father who died of Covid in 2021, which led her to become overwhelmed.

“As for my artwork, both are expressions of my feelings towards losses of loved ones.  

“The loss of my father in 2021 due to Covid had greatly affected me, then we lost another family member recently, our baby nephew during his open heart surgery in June this year.

“I expressed my loss and sadness through arts that I find they give me some solace.

Another outstanding art was hanging pieces called “Mandalas” contributed by Florence Wong, a contemporary artist from Kota Kinabalu.

Trained in the United States, she graduated with a Fine Arts degree in visual communication.

The Mandalas by Florence Wong. 

She paints contemporary and abstract pieces, working with acrylic and other mediums.

Her work is a constant search of a better way to interpret her creative ideas and expressing her thoughts to her audience.

She chose to present the infinite Mandalas in the form of installation art, which aimed to change the perception of space and environment they are in, as they move about.

She said Mandala is a Sanskrit word for “circle” and symbolic of universe or cosmos. She made the Mandalas based on the aesthetics of the patterns and combination of colours as she believed in lifting one’s mood and spirit with vibrant colours and beautiful patterns.

Eva also announced the youngest artist was a 12-year-old Carol Love Daven who drew a sketches of flowers, ornaments, partial human faces which she titled as, “Love’s Flowers”.