Tracing the evolution of regional hospitality rituals, performed by women, centred around the betel leaf (an evergreen creeper vine), ramah-tamah explores how the ancient act of chewing on a betel quid reverberates through our past, present, and future.
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Rites and symbols associated with betel leaf practised across South and Southeast Asia are evoked by two performers who engage in an unspoken dialogue of bodily correspondences, hand gestures, encounters and partings. The voiceover weaves together pantuns, written and recited by octogenerian Peranakan Baba GT Lye, and women's stories that speak of rites of passage, acts of kinship, and the labour of caregiving. Pulsing with different tempos, ramah-tamah enacts a cross-generational dialogue about legacy and ageing, autonomy and women’s neverending quest for aliveness.