Tampan Natural System of Souls (2019)

With Tampan Natural System of Souls, Jennifer Tee focuses on the human spiritual journey and the cycles of life. The pattern in her work is inspired by ceremonial tampan cloths that were historically exchanged in Sumatra during rites of passage such as birth and death. Traditionally, these cloths depict a ship transporting human and animal souls to the next phase, with the mast merging into a tree of life.

Behind this motif lies a personal history: as a nine-year-old boy, Tee fled with his Chinese-Indonesian family in a hasty escape by ship to the Netherlands due to political tensions following Indonesian independence. By constructing this motif from pressed tulip petals—a historically Asian crop that has become a quintessentially Dutch symbol—Tee connects her own bicultural roots to universal narratives of displacement, migration, colonial trade histories, and the journey of the soul.

With thanks to SCHUNCK and the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam.