The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

Visual artist Fred Langford Edwards, with whom I am collaborating on a Wellcome Fund sponsored art project called The Forgotten Evolutionist, has written the following brief account of our recent 7 week trip to South-east Asia (21 March to 12 May):-

“We first visited Kutching, Sarawak, Borneo. The first few days were occupied with networking with various curators, museum directors and others with a passion for Alfred Russel Wallace (ARW). There was considerable interest from the media, George and I giving several interviews for print and radio. On one occasion we all gave radio interviews, including George’s wife Jan!!

We all visited Simunjan, where ARW collected 17 orang-utans for various museums in England and more than 50,000 insects in less than one year. At the time of ARW’s stay, the area was being developed for coal mining. The activity has now ceased, but there is considerable evidence of the process and much industrial archaeology to be investigated.

We also visited Santubong. It was here ARW wrote the 1855 ‘Sarawak Law’ paper. When this was brought to the attention of Charles Darwin, it prompted him to start writing what he planned to be a multi-volume work on evolution.

I returned to Santubong alone for serious work – staying with a local family in a traditional stilt-house built on the tidal flats of the small stream dissecting the community. The family made me most welcome and showed great interest in my work and the ‘legend’ of ARW. I made some interesting work, featuring the Santubong Mountain which dominates the area. In the local indigenous language, the name means ‘spirit boat’ – a symbolic dug-out canoe to take the dead to an after-life. The mountain has a very strong sense of presence.

From Sarawak we travelled to Bali via Singapore. We spent a day in Singapore, with a little networking with the University / National Park / Fine Art Galleries / Museums. I also found a professional film laboratory and was able have all exposed film processed [prolonged high temperatures / humidity can degrade the exposed image on un-processed film].

On Bali my main ambition was to make a work which was referenced to the ‘Wallace Line’. My plan was to hire a boat and make way collecting 100 water samples of seawater on a plotted course on the Bali Straights, mid way between Bali and Lombok. Navigating about 100 kms marking each collection point with a co-ordinates from GPS reading.

The work was quite a logistical exercise. The case containing 100 empty sample tubes was flown out from England as cargo to coincide with my arrival in Bali. I then had to arrange for the completed work of tubes with seawater to be freighted back home as surface cargo. I am pleased to report they arrived at Southampton about 10 days ago and are now safely archived in my studio – awaiting the design and final production of an installation piece.

During our time in Bali we had arranged to meet an English musician and comedian, Bill Bailey and his family. Bill has a great affection for South Asia and has been visiting the area for more than 20 years. During this time he has come to know the importance of ARW and is now a ‘disciple’. His stage performances whilst very accessible are referenced to sophisticated aspects of modern thought and culture, ranging from linguistics, the music of Kraftwerk [a German experimental group of musicians] and of course evolution!! Bill was very enthusiastic about my Wallace Line scheme. He was a great help and support, organising a boat and much more. He assisted, with his family, on the day, in collecting the samples and recording the data. He really enjoyed himself.

Once the tubes were dispatched for England we travelled by a series of ferries and car rides from Bali, to Lombok, to Sumbawa, to Flores. We took a tourist trip to Komodo and Rinca to be escorted on walks to view the Komodo Dragons. Whilst on the Island of Flores I arranged to stay on a very small island [3 hectares] – Mesa, 2 hours passage out of Labuan Bajo, Flores. The island was not for those who seek comfort.  I stayed with a family, the man of the house I had met on the Island of Komodo. Again this was a stilt-house built on low sand only 1 metre above normal sea level. I slept on the hard floor boards and joined the family for meals of fried dried fish and rice, twice a day. Originally, I did hang my hammock as planned, strung up diagonally across the front room, but on gently getting in the hammock, the lightly constructed house was stressed and I feared it may well collapse!!!

I ‘paid’ my hosts in provisions, 20 kgs of rice, 2 kgs coffee, 5 kgs sugar, 1 kg salt, 75l of bottled water [of which there was no supply on the island, in the dry season], and treats for the children.

My motive to stay on the island grew from my experience of my research to date. All the places I had visited in the Indonesian Archipelago were highly developed, Westernised, and much changed from the time of ARW’s travels in the mid 19 century. The island of Mesa, whilst clearly influenced by the processes of modernisation, has changed less than most. It possibly possesses vestiges of a culture which would be familiar to Wallace.

The photographic works from Santubong and Mesa are two very strong and compelling sets of images and will be significant features in the final show.

Sadly, I did not have the funds or the time to visit the island of Ternate, off to the south-east. It was here in 1858 ARW formulated the Theory of Natural Selection, which on completion he sent to Darwin for ‘peer review’ and passing on for publication – the rest we know.

In Malaysia and Indonesia there is much interest in my work, and I hope several key individuals will visit the UK when the works are exhibited. This could result in the work being shown in Asia.”