Marla Bendini Singaporean, b. 1986
Conteng, 2025
Conté on paper and polaroid
12 pieces; 18 x 14 x 4 cm each (framed)
These tree rubbing works are quiet acts of communion, created by rubbing conté on paper against the bark of trees in neighbourhoods I once called home. In tracing the textures...
These tree rubbing works are quiet acts of communion, created by rubbing conté on paper against the bark of trees in neighbourhoods I once called home. In tracing the textures of bark and body, they also map emotional landscapes—fragments of memory, family, and place.
Here, the tree is not a passive subject but a collaborator, kin, and witness. The act of rubbing—tactile, repetitive, embodied—is a ritual of care: a form of touch, memory-making, and transcription. Each impression becomes a tender inscription of presence and listening—a gesture of honoring the landscape as a living archive.
Accompanying Polaroids frame these trees against the backdrop of former homes—a return not only to places, but to feelings once held and kinships still unfolding.
These works are not souvenirs of trauma; they are talismans of return. They hold space for healing, continuity, and becoming—offering this simple message: We were here. We are still growing. Our stories are safe and alive, held by the trees, the soil, and each other.