ART TEACHER, ARTIST AND PICTURE BOOK ILLUSTRATOR
Hornbill, Honey in the Forest
A picture book depicting the conservation work of Malaysia’s first full-time Orang Asli hornbill guardians and their traditional wild honey harvesting techniques in the Belum-Temenggor Forest Complex, Peninsular Malaysia. Ammi’s project shines a spotlight on indigenous knowledge and coexistence with nature and was produced in collaboration with Yeap Chin Aik, co-founder of ‘The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Hornbill Conservation Project’.
LEONG
YOKE MEE
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"Working alongside Orang Asli or indigenous people, government agencies, donors and even ordinary Malaysians, we have achieved and learned so much since then, but there is still so much to do to safeguard hornbills and forests." - Yeap Chin Aik
MALAYSIA
Once inside the Royal Belum State Park Ammi met with the hornbill guardians; to experience their work first hand she assisted with boat transects stopping to listen, watch and record hornbills in the area as well as investigated nest trees. Ammi then accompanied the team by foot through the forest as they collected data on the flowering and fruiting conditions of selected forest trees.
©Yeap Chin Aik/MNS
©Vincen/Nature Advisor
©Yeap Chin Aik/MNS
©Yeap Chin Aik/MNS
During Ammi’s 4-day field trip to research her project she visited the MNS field office where Yeap Chin Aik shared information about the landscape of the Belum-Temenggor Forest Complex and daily work of the hornbill guardians.
©Vincen/Nature Advisor
'Guardians in the Forest' was published by Integra Creative Media under the imprint Oyez!Books and launched at GMBB, Kuala Lumpur. Ammi exhibitied the original works at the COEX community centre in Penang, Malaysia, with 20% of proceeds donated to hornbill conservation.
In the Night Gliding Land
A journey of discovery across the Strait of Malacca to the Island of Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah, located in the Andaman sea in northwestern Malaysia. The mission, with the help of the Night Spotting Project: to find, illustrate and share the story of the Sunda colugo; a nocturnal, arboreal gliding mammal native to Southeast Asia.
MALAYSIA
‘Into the Night, Gliding’ was published by Integra Creative Media under the imprint Oyez!Books, a Malaysian publisher and online bookstore specialising in children's books from Malaysia and Asia.
Ammi joined Dr. Priscilla Miard and Mae Chuah from the Night Spotting Project on a field trip to Langkawi Island, Malaysia. Together they explored the island by plane, boat, and motorcycle in search of the elusive Sunda colugo.
“When I visited an event about primates, I discovered a nocturnal arboreal gliding mammal called the Sunda colugo that is native to my country. I notice that colugo species are still considered Least Concern in term of extinction risk on the IUCN Red List. And the fact is most people (90%) don't know about this animal locally.” - Ammi
'Into the Night, Gliding' was exhibited at the Museum Of Picture Book Art, and later launched, at GMBB, Kuala Lumpur.
Through this storybook Ammi hopes to share an appreciation for wildlife conservation by connecting the audience with the uniqueness and special behaviour of this precious animal.