Squatters' Rights, Fugitive Care

Ila's interest in the histories of mangroves in Singapore and the region began with her encountering of archives through maps, colonial records, oral histories and research papers. Through archival research and field visits through the lens of various guides and caretakers she met, she uncovered the many intertwined stories embedded within these intertidal forests: the colonial vilification of mangroves through language, mangroves as spaces of refuge and resistance, and today the continued evolving perceptions and relationships for coastal communities who depend on mangroves as a source of livelihood in the Riau Archipelago. Beyond documentation of these conversations and stories, her works also employs speculative fiction as a way to foster empathy for both human and more-than-human communities that inhabit these ecosystems.

A film that she is currently working on is called "Piara". The name is drawn from the language of the Orang Laut of Bintan, a community who holds a reciprocal relationship with their spiritual world through acts of care and offering. It is a short film about a mother mangrove spirit who travels across damaged coastlines to restore ecosystems where mangroves have been removed or lost. She made this film after meeting a kayaking guide in Singapore, who told her about a large Rhizophora tree in Khatib Bongsu, an area in Singapore where mangroves still grow. He described the big Rhizophora tree as the “mother mangrove,” who dispersed many propagules in the area. Strangely, he also shared, he could not find this tree again when he tried to look for it.

This story inspired ila to create this film about a wandering spirit that continues to regenerate life in depleted intertidal zones. Please see the trailer below: