Zelin Seah is drawn to things in flux, finding in them a beauty marked by impermanence. He enjoys collecting topographic maps and appreciates the organic, abstract shapes of land rendered through orderly measurements and markings. His artistic process involves deliberately deconstructing maps through actions like scouring, tearing, re-splicing, burning, and carving, challenging the resilience of paper, a material derived from nature. This disintegration of the map’s original purpose reflects his ongoing concerns with land ownership and usage.

These newly purchased maps of the national park and its surroundings, obtained from the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia, appear unchanged since 1993. But have the landscapes truly remained preserved, or have there been hidden changes beneath the surface? Using fine scratches and burn marks along the contour lines, he etches across industrial aluminium panels hidden beneath the maps, suggesting scars beneath the land’s surface. These marks, like traces of lost habitats, are only visible and reflective up close, mirroring how we overlook the ecological damage caused by development.

Zelin Seah is represented by Richard Koh Fine Art.