Chong Kim Chiew’s ‘Banknotes’ works are reconstructions of historical currency from past and present ruling structures in Malaysia, created from strips of tape applied directly to canvas. The work Cocos (Keeling) Islands – a re-creation of a 1902 two-rupee note
from a place that is now an Australian external territory – is particularly relevant to Chong as a Malaysian artist participating in an Australian exhibition. Annexed by Britain in 1857, with administration shifting between Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Singapore, the Cocos Islands came under Australian sovereignty in 1955. Geographically located in South-East Asia, the islands’ population is majority Malay, the descendants of plantation labourers transmigrated in the mid nineteenth century. 

Tape is often used to repair torn paper currency, but in the case of Chong’s work, its material distortions conversely give the notes the appearance of falling apart. Like the scrambled maps of Chong’s ‘Boundary Fluidity’ series, the ‘Banknotes’ deconstruct everyday depictions of the idea of nationhood, questioning their integrity and the values they represent.