The Banquet House #42, A Sack of Dried Pig Trotters records a corner of the kitchen within a multi-generational ancestral home in Muar, Malaysia. The photograph centres on a sack filled with dried pig trotters, a preserved food ingredient commonly found in traditional Chinese households. Set against a simple domestic backdrop, the image draws attention to practices of food preparation, storage, and sustenance that have been passed down through generations.
Rather than focusing on people or ceremonial objects, Ho Leng highlights a humble aspect of daily life that reflects the household’s customs and material culture. The preserved food item serves as a reminder of domestic labour, family traditions, and the rhythms of communal living. Through this close observation of an ordinary object, the photograph reveals how cultural memory can be embedded within the routines and necessities of everyday life.
