The Pillars of Sabah community art project was an arts initiative that ran from 2018 until 2021, reviving the long-neglected site of the former Lands & Surveys Department building at 20 Jalan Haji Saman, in the heart of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

In April 2021, shortly after the launch of the project’s third edition, Sabah Art Gallery unlawfully ordered the quiet removal of all 31 works on exhibit. By the time the project’s organisers caught wind of something happening at the site, the entire project, and all of the artists’ intellectual property, was destroyed.

Given their lack of transparency, it is difficult to communicate exactly the motivations behind the actions of Sabah Art Gallery against Pillars of Sabah. However, it should be made very clear that the project currently occupying the site is not in any way affiliated or associated with, nor authorised or endorsed by, nor in any way connected, officially or unofficially, to the Pillars of Sabah community art project.

It has been a long, emotional two years since the incident. But we are finding our feet again.

Pillars of Sabah will return in 2023.