Migrant Indian workers powered many rubber plantations in British Malaya in the early twentieth century. Dia, whose practice often centres on brown identities, histories and bodies, turns to representations of labouring bodies in this show, which contains prints of stock images of Malayan plantations as well as a hammock made out of a latex sheet. The show does not say much about exploitation and trauma, but implies their presence and unknowability. The highlight is a CGI video in which a gilded female protagonist (we.remain.in.multiple.motions_Malaya, 2022) immerses herself among lush trees and blue waters. The many scenes of her silver arm touching stuff – stroking a tiger skin, dipping into waves and caressing the slash marks on rubber-tree trunks – are hypnotic, sensual and oddly healing.
