CHRISTOPHER ONG

Friday, October 9, 2009

Travel - into the past . . .

Yesterday

Today
Tomorrow

~ Horn Bird ~

Sarawak Borneo

www.christopherong.com

I have made Manhattan my home for more than two decades, but each time I embrace Malaysia, the land where I was born and raised until my teens, I still get very excited and emotional. Often I feel ambivalent - the present melting into the past, and the past overlapping to the present; it is just like a kaleidoscope, all the fragments coming together forming one pattern to another swiftly - very colorful.

~ Tropical Floral Arrangement by Christopher Ong

for Malaysia Embassy in NYC~
Orchid and pineapples wrapped in Terengganu region palm leaf mat.

mangoteen

There are various ethnicities in the region of Kelantan, resulting in a wide variety of food, art, fashion, cultures, music and aesthetics. I strongly believed that exposure to this diversity has shaped me into who I am today. And my journeys throughout the West and the East have certainly enriched my imagination and sensibility to both worlds, which are reflected in my design.

Sarawak Borneo
Tree of Life wood trunk
www.christopherong.com

papaya

approaching Kota Baru airport, Kelantan.
Many coconut trees ... the Kelantan river is very yellow,
reaching out to the South China Sea.

Kelantan Central Market
Mostly are women conducting the business ...

Kelantan River - often during the monsoon months,
this river roars like a dragon and rushing into the city ...

pomelo

The mosque across from the house where I grew up;
My uncle has demolished the old wooden house

and built a new 3-storey concrete shop house.
On the rooftop, you can see the village, coconut trees
and the blue mountains.

Simple Kampung (Village) houses surrounded
by banana plants and coconut trees
Sugar cane field
Jack fruit tree

little wild yellow flowers along the village mud path ....

Village houses.
I used to run around these villages in my flip flop when I was little;
and now I am living in one of the biggest and dazzling cities in the world.

rambutan

Lunch Buffet - all kinds of local spicy foods.
Colorful dessert - Green and Red rice desert with palm sugar syrup
Organic purple yam congee from my cousin's kitchen