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.
Though she started her artistic practice grounded in videography work, she intends to work with more site-specific materials, ethically gathered from the mangrove forests, in her upcoming works.
Watch the video interview below to hear Ila share her perspectives on mangroves and how she hopes her artistic approach can foster greater awareness of the roles these coastal forests play.
The trailer of the film Piara (2026) is a film that was conceived during her Creative Residency with the National Library Board, inspired by a story from of a Mother Mangrove tree in Khatib Bongsu mangrove forest. The trailer of the film can be viewed below:
[ESSAY] animacies of absence by ila
[BOOK] Mangrove Forests of the Malay Peninsula by J.G. Watson, published in 1928
Unfolding through visual, narrative, and performance, ila’s artistic practice revolves around urgencies for repair, care, and mutual support. Negotiating alternative nodes of experience, her works reconfigure and merge speculative fiction with factual histories, informal archives and collective experiences, conceiving them as sites for empathy and connectivity
