This presentation begins with a short, one-on-one massage performance using camphor balm—a sensory ritual rooted in memory, care, and storytelling. As a child, I often received hand massages from my grandmother while she told me stories about her hometown, Barus. For her, storytelling served not only as a way to bridge the gap between younger generations and the land that she—and many others—had left behind, but also as an act of remembering. This gesture of intimate care echoes the healing traditions of Barus, North Sumatra, where camphor oil was used by local shamans and the camphor forest was seen as a living relative. These memories became the foundation for my performance practice, where scent, touch, and oral narration create a shared space of embodied memory.

Following the performance, I will present my ongoing research into the extinction of the camphor tree (Dryobalanops aromatica) and its entanglement with colonial histories. Since 2016, I have traced how 19th-century European scientific expeditions and the industrial development of celluloid film in the Global North fueled extractive demands on the camphor forest, leading to the tree’s decline. This ecological loss disrupted the deep kinship between the Batak people and the forest, triggering forced migrations, shifting land-use patterns, the establishment of plantations, and resulting in intergenerational loss.

My research combines oral histories, colonial archives across Europe, and fieldwork in Barus and North Sumatra. I will share how these findings have not only shaped my understanding of ecological and cultural loss, but have also profoundly influenced my artistic practice. By transforming archival and historical knowledge into a tactile, intimate experience, I approach storytelling as a form of healing—a way to reconnect spiritually and emotionally with the land, with ancestors, and with the erased knowledge embedded in the body.