The Garden We Carry: Weaving Ketupat, Stories, and Belonging

"Gardens are places we inherit, cultivate, leave behind, and recreate."

The Garden We Carry is a participatory weaving workshop exploring ideas of home, migration, memory, and care through the traditional Southeast Asian practice of weaving ketupat. Across Southeast Asia, ketupat is more than a woven rice casing—it is an object of gathering, celebration, patience, and generosity. Each strip is woven over and under another, reminding us that communities are built through interconnected lives rather than individual strands.

Responding to the theme Garden, participants are invited to imagine the gardens they have inherited, lost, or hope to grow. These gardens may be literal—banana trees, pandan plants, jasmine, rambutan—or imagined spaces of belonging, family, language, and memory. Through conversation, storytelling, and collective making, participants will each weave their own ketupat while reflecting on what they continue to cultivate within themselves despite distance and migration.

• All materials provided.

About the artist: 

Tajiyah Sulwana Tajuddin is a Southeast Asian voice educator, performer, and published poet. Her interdisciplinary practice explores memory, migration, identity, and belonging through voice, poetry, traditional cultural practices, and participatory performance. She creates community-centred workshops that honour cultural heritage while inviting contemporary conversations around home, care, and collective storytelling.

Supported Tickets:

If you're experiencing financial hardship and even a Community Ticket isn't affordable, please email esea.offshoots@gmail.com. We have a limited number of supported tickets available and will do our best to help.