by human intervention, this aquatic plant species also becomes a serious threat to the lakes and ponds by affecting the water flow and reducing the sunlight that reaches the endemic aquatic plants in the locality. In another painting, Chan depicts the lush water lilies in their natural setting at the Paya Indah Wetlands in near Putrajaya. Her depiction of the landscape is a memory of the place. Though the actual wetlands are now uninhabited by tourists and local residents because of the pandemic, the composition of the painting through a small patch of walkway suggests a proposition either to walk, to wade into the waters, to take a boat, and to explore the wetlands, or to leave the wetlands and to return to one’s place without intruding nature’s regrowth. Either way, there will always be an inevitable interaction between nature and human settlement. As shown in the painting of the water hyacinth with lavender blooms carpeting Melaka’s floodwater retention pond, Chan suggests the mutual relations of “give and take between human [beings] and nature.” In between the lined trees in the middle ground of the painting’s composition, the majestic mosque and Islamic center, Madrasah Al Ridzwan harmoniously towers the landscape of aquatic plant colonies. The architecture and the pond complement each other with the exchanges of their hues of greens and shades of purple. Thus, in this collection of eight paintings, Chan does not only represent the atmospheric environs of the local parks and wetlands with their greenery and blooms but also puts their true value in her own sense of place that is personal yet shared with nature and her community; contested yet can be negotiated between human beings and nature itself. AM+DG 2020 Jason K. Dy, SJ
63
