Alfred Wallace Gallery
In 2013, Louise* from Friends Of Sarawak Museum approached us with an idea for an exhibition on Alfred Russell Wallace (8 Jan 1823 - 7 Nov 1913), the renowned English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and illustrator. Wallace was a contemporary of Charles Darwin, who independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection, and the creation of the Wallace Line; a distinct zoogeographical boundary dividing Asian and Australasian species. Notably for us in Borneo, Wallace spent some time in Sarawak (1854-56) where he wrote his seminal paper 'Sarawak Law' about species distribution.
The gallery would be located in one wing of the Sarawak Museum and is intended to be temporary lasting 2 to 3 years, targeting the general public, especially children. Our aim is to explore a different way of exhibiting the artifacts while considering educational intent, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.
In line of the intrepid character of Wallace's work, we proposed the idea that the exhibition can be a 'traveling' exhibition; relocating from one place to another, and perhaps reaching the smaller towns in Sarawak.
Wallace spent a significant portion of his life in Sarawak and made several important discoveries here. We drew inspiration from Alfred Wallace’s ‘moth nets’ — a device he rigged in the jungle using bedsheets hung like a three-sided room, with a hurricane lamp in the middle to attract insect specimens.
We prepared some presentation material, made a model and presented it to the relevant authorities who were at the time busy with the construction of the New Borneo Cultures Museum. Without a firm plan, this proposal remained unbuilt; a fortnight of ideas compiled into a refreshing and nifty way to communicate with a younger museum audience.
Recently, at the international art exhibition between Malaysia and Taiwan titled 'Tanah+Air: Navigating Asianness from Malaysia, (土地與水：從馬來西亞出發探訪亞洲性) I was pleased to see a section on Alfred Wallace.
* Dr Louise M. Macul is a prominent museulogist, widely recognized for her extensive work and research on the Orang Ulu murals.
Text by the architect
Share this project