Faye Lim works to document Malaysia’s many cultures

In 2016, Faye Lim attended a festival celebrating the cultures of Sabah and Sarawak, in Malaysia, and realized how little she knew about the country’s diverse ethnic groups.

This realization sparked a mission for the social activist to learn about and record the stories of smaller communities often overlooked in national statistics. Lim began this work through The Rojak Projek, an initiative using art, food, and culture to connect people from different backgrounds.

Lim initially created portraits of Malaysians using traditional foods like onde-onde and laksa, which helped her understand the breadth of Malaysian society. She has since collected information on over 250 ethnic and subethnic groups within the country. In 2025, she received a grant from Yayasan Gamuda to focus on documenting the cultures of the Orang Ulu communities in Sarawak, ultimately recording the stories of 18 communities including the Lun Bawang and Penan people.

Lim observed that many people in Sarawak, as well as those from Peninsular Malaysia, are unfamiliar with these smaller communities. She believes that even a small population size does not diminish a community’s value, especially as their languages, customs, and cultures face the risk of disappearing with younger generations moving to cities.

Lim and her team often faced difficult travel conditions and limited communication access while documenting these groups, but she remains committed to sharing their stories and fostering a sense of national unity.