“After the Pineapple” marks the first solo exhibition of a promising Malaysian artist, Cheong See Min.

After The Pineapple

Cheong See Min

Curated by Clara Che Wei Peh

Warin Lab Contemporary

Apr 2 – May 31, 2025

“After the Pineapple” marks the first solo exhibition of a promising Malaysian artist, Cheong See Min. This showcase unveils a new body of work that culminates years of exploration and experimentation with the pineapple as fruit, material, and myth.

Cheong See Min’s practice interrogates the relationship between nature and humans. Her method combines fiber, weaving, sculpture and installation to create the works grounded in nature and history, and considers weaving an act of communication that mediates between the past and present.

Her recent practice is informed by research – both archival as well as anecdotal – into the colonial history of plantations in Malaysia, and the cost of sustaining the production and export of commercial crops from Peninsula Malaysia to England.

Her inquiry begins with the personal: See Min’s mother and grandmother were pineapple farmers, and she grew up near a pineapple plantation in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.The pineapple, as both subject and visual motif, recurred throughout her childhood. This compelled Cheong to trace the arrival of the plant and its significance  in her home state of Johor, Malaysia. Through botanical records, colonial archives, historical images, family histories and more, she unravels the fruit’s layered narratives and influences to the land, and weaves the pineapple–both as image and material–into the presence and absence within its historical legacies in Malaysia, and more broadly, Southeast Asia.

Curated by Clara Che Wei Peh, this exhibition is the culmination of years of research, conversations, and material experiments in See Min’s practice. Their collaboration was initiated in 2023 by The Institutum, a Singapore-based non-profit arts organisation. Bringing this dialogue to Thailand—now one of the world’s largest pineapple producers, with its own rich history tied to the fruit—the exhibition reflects on how we engage with our past through the pineapple, its fruits, its leaves, and its aftermath.

“After the Pineapple” will open on Wednesday 2 April, 2025 with an opening reception at 17.00 – 20.00 hrs., and will be on display until 31 May, 2025 at Warin Lab Contemporary located at OP Garden, 4 Charoenkrung Road soi 36, Bangrak, Bangkok. Opening hours: 10.30 – 19.30 hrs.