PETALING JAYA, March 11 — Using books, films and video games to create art is something that artist Charis Loke has been doing with her  Geeky Baju Project.

The project takes characters and themes from the different mediums and reimagines them through traditional Southeast Asian garments such as the baju melayu, cheongsam, sari, and kebaya.

Loke’s aim is not to directly convert a character’s existing clothing into local outfits but to express the character’s personality, beliefs, and history using textiles, motifs, and silhouettes from Malaysia and its neighbouring countries.

Some of the titles reinterpreted by Loke in the Geeky Baju Project include The Lord of the Rings, Mass Effect, The Hunger Games, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Several visits to museums and textile exhibits and even handy tutorials about tying kain on YouTube furnished the artist with the proper knowledge to illustrate the garments while preserving their Southeast Asian heritage.

Gathering visual references and carrying out in-depth research into a project is an important part of the creative process for Loke, who explained that this stage can take up to more than a week before starting on the final art.

Ever wondered what The Lord of Rings would look like if it was set in a Southeast Asian country?

The artist added that when the characters from existing science-fiction and fantasy titles are interpreted through garments from the other side of the world, pressing issues of race and culture often emerge.

"East Asian cultures and increasingly that of South Asia have some amount of representation in mainstream English-medium genre works, but Southeast Asia is often forgotten despite being an incredibly diverse and historically rich region."

"Most of these stories are still being told by creators who aren’t Asian, which means that the tendency to misrepresent, to exoticise, and to speak over #ownvoices is strong,” said Loke, referencing a Twitter hashtag used to prop up the works of authors from diverse backgrounds.

Challenging the norm

Gender is also a contentious subject in the science fiction and fantasy genres where women are often depicted in skimpy attire and hypersexualised costumes.

In light of this, Loke is using the Geeky Baju Project to challenge normative expectations when it comes to femininity and masculinity.

The futuristic setting of the 'Mass Effect' video games is merged with traditional baju kurung and kebaya.

"Play or watch enough games and movies and you’ll come to learn that big, bulky silhouettes are almost always reserved to show power and masculinity, or that the female outfits suffer from a lack of fabric and a surplus of the male gaze.

"So what happens when a male character is translated into, say, a baju kurung or a cheongsam? Can we still convey their personality through shapes, colour choices, and motifs?

"When you look at the Geeky Baju, the answers are obvious."

Plans to bring the designs to life are in the works as Loke is currently seeking funding to collaborate with local textile makers or artisans.

She said that the aim of creating the clothes was more about providing a fun avenue for people to learn about the history behind traditional outfits rather than simply producing a line of consumer goods.

For the 'Dragon Age: Inquisition' series, Loke turned to China, Indonesia, and the Philippines for inspiration.

"Geeky Baju isn’t about creating things simply to be worn and consumed. It’s to get people excited about clothing, enough for them to learn more about the heritage connected to it or to want to create designs of their own."

Her own love affair with art began with a healthy appetite for reading and the covers of her favourite books as a child sowed a desire to tell stories using illustration.

As an adult, reading widely allows Loke to stay in tune with current issues and cultivate a curious nature that ensures she will always have a wellspring of ideas to draw from.

She is currently working on another set of designs for the Geeky Baju Project and has dropped hints that it will be based on a film that recently snagged an Oscar.

You can check out more of Loke’s work on her website (https://www.charisloke.com) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/charisloke/).