The Durians that Binds Us Together
Hi folks!
It’s the durian season in Singapore and Malaysia, and we have lots of roadside stalls lined up, every year this time, with crates of the quintessential Southeast Asian fruit. We went to a local pasar-malam (night market) in Kuang recently to grab some street snacks, and the sweetness (ok, subjective) of the durian was just irresistible. Needless to say, with a bunch of other artists from Southeast Asia, we had to have a durian party at least once. And once more again.
We opted to try the kampong durians. They are usually smaller in size, and much more affordable than others. Buying the kampong durians is like playing a game of roulette - you never know how many edible pieces of gold you get!
During our artist residency in Kuang, we spent some time looking into locally available and abundant paint binders. We were curious to find alternative binders rather than relying on what is commercially available. One of the options we have known about for some time is plant mucilages or gums.
The durian gatherings we had not only left us with our stomachs full, but also many leftover durian seeds that we could work with. We found a very kitchen-safe way to transform durian seeds into a binder which we thought would be fun to share about here with you all.
Durian Seeds Binder Test: Charcoal pigment on found plywood board
Making a Durian binder:
Wash off any flesh from your seeds. A steel wool or hard brush is helpful for this as you do not want any flesh contaminating the mixture later on.
Soak seeds in water overnight to soften and eventually remove the tough seed coat. The seeds that float to the surface are the under-developed, non-pollinated ones. We removed those from the batch.
Strain out the seeds and remove the seed coat by cutting it open at the top with a pair of scissors. You should just be left with the endosperm portion of the seed (pictured below of white ‘pith’ with a thin brown cover).
Chop them up into smaller chunks, fit into a blender, add some water, and blend it up until smooth. We simply added enough water just to cover the top of the seeds. This was what our mixture looked like after a good blend.
Strain the mucilage from the bits of durian seeds with a cloth. This was tricky because the mucilage was thick and heavy on the sock cloth we used and broke ours at the seams, releasing a giant glop onto our table. Very common mishap that can happen.
To counter this, we diluted the mixture with water until it was a thinner consistency that enabled us to squeeze and strain out the clear mucilage. Up to this point, the mucilage was so thick that we were not worried about adding too much water; we were trying to get it to flow and not stick everywhere.
After straining, you should be left with a thick, slightly translucent, whitish mucilaginous liquid. Whilst our binder did not have the signature durian smell, we attributed it to our vigilance on making sure we cleaned the flesh of the seeds thoroughly.
Perhaps it was the starch in the mucilage that gives it its translucent look, but we realized it helps to make the earth paints more opaque upon application which was a plus for us.
This experiment was an exciting opportunity for us to explore alternative binders without relying on gum arabic that is often our go-to binder for watercolour paints. The main acacia trees that produce gum arabic are not native to Southeast Asia and is found in dryer regions (Sudan accounts for 80% of the export!)
It does take a bit of mental adjustment to get used to its stretchy and slippery texture of the durian binder, and we are still in very early stages of learning about it as a material, but we find making with experimental material such as this highly rewarding because it helps us to break out of the box of standard art practices in our process.
We hope that you find our experiment an interesting exploration for yourself one day! And of course, a reason to keep the seeds after having your own durian gatherings this season :)
Till next post,
Liz and Shirin