KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — The Bajau Laut community living on the pristine waters of Semporna in Sabah have an exceptional talent for reading the sea. 

These sea nomads have lived off the ocean for centuries but were rendered stateless after the formation of modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

As a result, Bajau Laut children grow up without formal education, relying instead on nature to guide and sustain them.

Inspired by this connection, mixed media artist Denis Chai poignantly captures the lesser-known routines and rites of passage of Bajau Laut children in his latest exhibition, Dancing with the Waves.

Interestingly, in almost all his portraits, the children are depicted with unusually long necks — each adorned with different sea creatures wrapped around their heads.

The peculiar pattern actually tells an interesting story. 

Chai, 51, first met the Bajau Laut children in Semporna by chance three years ago while on vacation with his wife.

What he hadn’t expected to see was young Bajau Laut children rowing their boats to the shores near his resort.

“They would extend their necks and look upwards at the visitors in their rooms at the resort, trying to sell their freshly-caught seafood,” Chai told Malay Mail, when met at the exhibition recently.

“They sell crabs, fish, lobsters, pearls and anything else they could salvage from the sea. 

“They are natural divers and catch the sea creatures with their bare hands,” he added.

Watching the children ply their trade sparked fresh inspirations in Chai, who got into work right away. 

He started mingling with the Bajau Laut community there to learn about their daily routine and customs. 

Often, he had to interpret what the children were saying through their body language due to their limited proficiency in Malay and English since they cannot receive formal education in schools.

He even returned to the island twice, visiting their stilt homes standing sturdy against the tides. 

The visits resulted in nearly 40 art pieces, mostly painted on reclaimed driftwood collected from abandoned fishing boats and gunny sacks. 

Growing up in a neighbourhood in Kulai, Johor, Chai spent most of his childhood playing with his friends along the riverbanks in his village. He also developed a fascination for the artistic appearance and texture of driftwood from early on. 

In fact, Chai has been collecting driftwoods from fishing communities, all the way from Penang to Johor. 

His purchases often leave fishermen scratching their heads, but for Chai, “every piece of wood tells a story.”

Similarly, wood is also very significant in the Bajau Laut culture.

“Young Bajau Laut men who are ready for marriage must demonstrate two skills. 

“They should be able to build a boat from felled hardwood and construct stilt homes on the sea. 

“It’s like a rite of passage for them,” Chai explained.

When he visited some Bajau Laut homes, Chai found them using gunny sacks as blankets to sleep or as a barrier to shelter themselves from strong winds. That moved him to also use gunny sacks as his canvas so that he can present their stories in a raw and relatable way. 

‘No sense of time’

During his interactions with the Bajau Laut children, Chai was baffled that most of them did not know their own age. 

“They live without any sense of time. They live freely in very simple homes, trying to make ends meet with whatever little they find from the sea,” he said.

Chai has also assigned a sea creature that best resembles the personality of each child depicted in the portraits.

For instance, strong-headed children are depicted with a crab around them. 

Children who are sensitive to changes and quickly adapt to them are portrayed with a starfish around them — representing both their vulnerability and their ability to ride with whatever life throws at them.

Meanwhile, AweGallery founder Dora Ong said some 18 pieces have been sold since the exhibition began last Friday.

Chai is also directing all proceeds from the sales to support Iskul Sama di Laut Omadal, a community-driven makeshift school that provides basic literacy training to stateless Bajau Laut children on Omadal Island.

The Dancing with the Waves exhibition will run until October 5 at AweGallery in Taman Paramount, Petaling Jaya.