Shukri Zali

29/08/2026

A VISUAL OVERVIEW OF LA MARCHE DE L’HUMANITÉ / HUMANITY IN MOTION

Nine photographs drawn from the current 26-image sequence. This overview image sits outside the numbered sequence.

LA MARCHE DE L’HUMANITÉ / HUMANITY IN MOTION is An ongoing authorial documentary project begun in Borneo in 2004 and later extended across Southeast Asia, France and Europe. It examines migration, culture, dignity, memory, labour, faith and belonging.

— ONE HUMANITY —

The project begins from a simple conviction: humanity is one, but never uniform.
In moral and poetic terms, it speaks of one human race; scientifically, of one living human species, Homo sapiens. Differences of appearance, language, faith, culture, nationality and history exist within one human family.
Modern biological anthropology does not support dividing humanity into separate, fixed biological races, although racial categories and racism remain socially and politically consequential. [1]

— CITOYEN DU MONDE —

From this follows the idea of the citoyen du monde—the citizen of the world.
It is not a legal nationality and does not erase attachment to a country, community or culture. It is an ethical position: people can remain rooted in particular places while recognising responsibilities towards a common humanity.

The United Nations associates global citizenship with human dignity, cultural diversity and a sense of belonging beyond national boundaries. [2]

— HUMANITY IN MIGRATION —

As far back as archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence allows us to see, human history is also a history of migration.

Human populations moved across continents and seas, adapted to new environments and carried languages, knowledge, beliefs and practices with them. Later movements followed coastlines, rivers, mountain passages and maritime routes through trade, agriculture, kinship, labour, conflict, displacement, faith and the search for safety or opportunity.

Migration is not an interruption of human history; it is one of the processes through which societies and cultures were formed. [3]

This does not mean that everyone migrates or that all movement is voluntary. It means that human mobility predates the borders that now classify people as citizens, foreigners, immigrants, refugees or stateless persons.

Immigration is a legal category defined by states; human movement is much older than the modern state.

— FROM BORNEO TO INDOCHINA —

The project’s first principal chapter, From Borneo to Indochina, moves through Sabah—The Land Below the Wind, formerly North Borneo—and Sarawak—Land of the Hornbills—before continuing to Cebu in the Philippines, Siam or present-day Thailand, Cambodia and Việt Nam.

It follows cultures and relationships shaped by seas, rivers, mountains, migration, trade, kinship, language, ritual, foodways and material knowledge.

In Borneo, languages spoken by Kayan, Kenyah, Dusun and Murut communities belong to the extensive Austronesian family. The prevailing archaeological and linguistic model traces a major prehistoric expansion from Taiwan through the Philippines and into Island Southeast Asia.

This does not mean that today’s Bornean communities arrived unchanged from Taiwan. Their cultures developed through long histories of movement, intermarriage, exchange and differentiation within Borneo itself. [4]

European expansion later divided the island politically. British and Dutch spheres and boundary agreements contributed to the territorial divisions inherited by the three modern states that now share Borneo: Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Colonial lines divided administrations and later nation-states, but languages, cultures, kinship networks and routes of movement had long crossed the island’s interior and coasts. [5]

On the mainland, the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 transferred Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu from Siamese to British suzerainty, contributing to the present border between northern Malaysia and southern Thailand.
Franco-Siamese settlements of 1893, 1904 and 1907 forced Siam to surrender territories and helped shape its later frontiers with French-controlled Laos and Cambodia. Siam remained formally independent, but not untouched by European imperial pressure. [5]

These borders did not create the region’s cultures. They placed modern political lines across older geographies of mobility and exchange.
The project therefore approaches Borneo, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia and Việt Nam not only as separate national territories, but as parts of a connected human and cultural landscape.

— CHAMPA AND THE CHAM —

The Cham provide another history of migration and cultural continuity.
The civilisation of Champa left major architectural and religious traces, including Mỹ Sơn in present-day Việt Nam. Cham languages belong to the Austronesian family, connecting them linguistically to the wider maritime world.
Political upheaval and territorial loss later carried Cham communities into Cambodia, Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asia, where culture continued through language, religion, kinship and adaptation. [6]

— FRANCE AND EUROPE —

The second principal chapter, Where Ideals and Hope Collide, turns towards France and Europe.
France and former French Indochina are connected through colonisation, war, education, labour and migration. France transported soldiers and workers from Indochina during the colonial period and the world wars.

Decolonisation and later conflicts brought Hmong, Khmer, Lao and Vietnamese people to France and elsewhere in Europe, carrying memory and culture across continents. [7]

Movement now also occurs in the other direction. French administrative records document established French populations in Thailand, Việt Nam and Cambodia, while scholarship describes European retirement migration, employment and newer forms of long-term mobility in Southeast Asia. [8]

These contemporary movements are not equivalent to colonial conquest, forced labour or refugee displacement. They nevertheless show that connections between Europe and Southeast Asia remain active and multidirectional.

— CULTURE IN MOTION —

Migration is a foundation of the project, but migrants are not treated as a separate category of humanity.
Those who move and those who remain share needs for dignity, security, attachment, recognition and culture.
Culture travels through language, food, music, belief, craftsmanship, family memory and everyday practice. It is not transported unchanged: it can be preserved, lost, recovered, shared or transformed.

UNESCO similarly understands living cultural heritage as something transmitted between generations while being continually recreated through history, environment and interaction with others. [9]

— THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PROJECT —

This is neither a travel record nor a humanitarian catalogue. It does not claim to speak on behalf of every person or culture represented.
It is a long-form visual essay on migration and rootedness, cultural continuity and transformation, common humanity, visibility and exclusion.
Black and white brings different places, years and generations into a shared visual register without erasing their distinctions.

It does not deny colour or cultural identity; it resists allowing skin colour to become the first or final explanation of a human being.
Shadow and light become questions of visibility: what societies illuminate, what they overlook and what emerges when we look longer.
At present, the album comprises 23 photographs, but the project remains open.

— SELECTED RECOGNITION, PUBLICATION AND EXHIBITIONS —

Photographs and separately edited series drawn from La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion have received international recognition and publication.

THE EARTH REMEMBERS THROUGH US
Official Selection — International Photography Awards, 2026
https://www.photoawards.com/social/zoom.php...

Selected and published — FotoDoc Portfolio Award, 2026
https://fotodoc.com.br/.../the-earth-remembers-through-us/

SŪTRADHĀRA
Selected — FotoDoc Portfolio Award, 2026
https://fotodoc.com.br/en/imagem-destacada/sutradhara/

Official Selection — International Photography Awards, 2026
https://www.photoawards.com/social/zoom.php...

TONLÉ SAP
Bronze, Press / General News — Prix de la Photographie Paris, 2025
https://px3.fr/winners/px3/2025/15578/

THE GREAT LAKE OF HOPE
Honorable Mention — Budapest International Foto Awards, 2025
https://budapestfotoawards.com/.../93-38299-25/1779804581/

SUGBO
3rd Place, Editorial / Press / Other — International Photography Awards, 2024
https://photoawards.com/social/zoom.php?eid=8-1717190874-24

Honorable Mention — Budapest International Foto Awards, 2023
https://budapestfotoawards.com/winners/hm/2023/93-29955-23/

WORRIED FOR THE YOUNG ONE’S FUTURE
3rd Place — Prix de la Photographie Paris, 2009
https://px3.fr/winners/px3/2009/1276/

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

Black & White
Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, Greece, 2017

The Essence of Monochrome
Ferencvárosi Művelődési Központ, Budapest, Hungary, 2017

International Exhibition of Art Photography
Doboj, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2013

— RESEARCH NOTES —

[1] ONE HUMAN SPECIES AND THE “HUMAN RACE”

The phrase “one human race” is used in its moral and literary sense. The scientifically precise formulation is one living human species, Homo sapiens.

UNESCO — Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights
https://www.unesco.org/.../universal-declaration-human...

American Association of Biological Anthropologists — Statement on Race and Racism
https://bioanth.org/about/aaba-statement-on-race-racism/

Smithsonian Human Origins Program — One Species, Living Worldwide
https://humanorigins.si.edu/.../one-species-living-worldwide

[2] CITOYEN DU MONDE AND GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Citoyen du monde is used as an ethical idea, not a formal legal status. United Nations material connects global citizenship with belonging to a common humanity, cultural diversity, human rights and responsibilities across borders.

United Nations Academic Impact — Global Citizenship
https://www.un.org/en/academic-impact/global-citizenship

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Cosmopolitanism
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cosmopolitanism/

[3] MIGRATION THROUGH HUMAN HISTORY

Archaeological, linguistic and biological evidence shows that migration has been a recurrent part of human prehistory and history.

Peter Bellwood — First Migrants: Ancient Migration in Global Perspective
https://researchportalplus.anu.edu.au/.../first-migrants.../

Patrick Manning and Tiffany Trimmer — Migration in World History
https://www.routledge.com/.../Mannin.../p/book/9781138295841

[4] AUSTRONESIAN DISPERSAL AND BORNEO

The broad Taiwan–Philippines–Island Southeast Asia model concerns prehistoric linguistic and population movement. It should not be interpreted as a simple or unmixed genealogy for present-day Kayan, Kenyah, Dusun or Murut communities.

Peter Bellwood — First Migrants: Ancient Migration in Global Perspective
https://researchportalplus.anu.edu.au/.../first-migrants.../

Alexander Adelaar and Nikolaus Himmelmann, eds. — The Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar
https://www.routledge.com/.../Adelaa.../p/book/9780415681537

[5] COLONIAL BOUNDARIES IN BORNEO AND SIAM

British and Dutch expansion contributed to borders later inherited by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 and the Franco-Siamese settlements of 1893, 1904 and 1907 helped shape modern boundaries around Siam, British Malaya and French Indochina.

D. S. Ranjit Singh — The Resolution of Anglo-Spanish Claims and the Anglo-Dutch Boundary in North Borneo, 1878–1915
https://www.cambridge.org/.../1A51DF91BDB086FBFDA83133D48...

Thamsook Numnonda — The Anglo-Siamese Negotiations, 1900–1909
https://image.mfa.go.th/.../The_Anglo-Siamese...

[6] CHAMPA, MỸ SƠN AND CHAM MIGRATION

Mỹ Sơn preserves material evidence of Champa’s religious and political history. Scholarship records later Cham migrations into Cambodia, Malaysia and the wider Malay world.

UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/949/

Philip Taylor, ed. — Cham Muslims of the Mekong Delta
https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/.../cham-muslims-of-the...

[7] FROM INDOCHINA TO FRANCE AND EUROPE

Research documents the recruitment and transportation of Vietnamese workers and soldiers to France, followed by later Hmong, Khmer, Lao and Vietnamese migration associated with decolonisation and conflict.

Colonial Labour in French Policy: The Lính Thợ Sent from Vietnam to France, 1939–1950s
https://www.cambridge.org/.../68E560C37B161F5071F66B05E99...

[8] CONTEMPORARY MOVEMENT TOWARDS SOUTHEAST ASIA

At the end of 2023, France’s voluntary consular register recorded:
Thailand: 14,954 French residents
Việt Nam: 7,163 French residents
Cambodia: 4,967 French residents
These figures are not exhaustive because registration is voluntary.

French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs — Report on French Citizens Abroad
https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/.../rapport_gouvernement...

[9] CULTURE AS LIVING HERITAGE
UNESCO defines intangible cultural heritage as culture transmitted between generations and continually recreated by communities in relation to their environment, history and social interaction.

UNESCO — Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention

— FEATURE / READ MORE —

Read the FMT Lifestyle feature on La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion:

“Documenting humanity across borders with his pictures”
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/.../documenting...

From La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion, an ongoing photographic and moving-image project by Shukri Zali, begun in 2004.

Photography and text © Shukri Zali. All rights reserved.

Editorial note: AI-assisted tools supported research organisation, source verification and language refinement. The concept, field observations, interpretation, image selection and final editorial decisions are the author’s own. All sources and final wording were reviewed and approved by the author.

27/08/2026

09/26 — For Money

Cebu City, Philippines, 2016

This photograph belongs to Sugbo, the Cebu subchapter within From Borneo to Indochina, one of the principal chapters of La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion.

Entertainment is also labour.

In 2016, Central Visayas was experiencing rapid economic growth: its economy expanded by about 8.8 percent, with services accounting for more than half of regional output.[1]

Yet growth existed alongside continuing pressure over wages and employment. In Metro Cebu, the statutory minimum wage for covered non-agricultural private-sector workers stood at ₱353 per day, while labour organisations were seeking substantially higher wages during the same period.[2]

Nationally, the official underemployment rate in 2016 was 18.3 percent.[3]

These figures do not establish the circumstances, employment arrangements or economic necessity of the women in this photograph. They describe only part of the wider economic environment in which service work, entertainment and different forms of income existed.

The photograph does not ask the viewer to romanticise, rescue or condemn the performers. It asks instead what happens when entertainment is recognised not only as spectacle, but also as work.

The decorative flowers and small lights promise fantasy. The postures reveal something more physical: balance, repetition, exposure and control.

The mirror offers fragments rather than complete identities.
The spectacle is visible. The terms of the transaction are not.

REFERENCE NOTES

[1] Philippine Statistics Authority — Central Visayas regional economy, 2016.
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the Central Visayas economy grew by approximately 8.8% in 2016, with services accounting for more than half of regional economic output.
https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/grdp/highlights/node/118345

[2] Department of Labor and Employment — Metro Cebu minimum wage and 2016 wage petitions.
Wage Order RBVII-19 raised the daily minimum wage for covered non-agricultural workers in expanded Metro Cebu to ₱353, effective in October 2015. During 2016, labour organisations subsequently sought further wage increases.
https://dole.gov.ph/news/region-7-wage-board-approves-p13-increase-in-daily-minimum-wage/
https://dole.gov.ph/news/dole-rtwpb-7-sets-wage-hike-petition-consultations-in-central-visayas/

[3] Philippine Statistics Authority — 2016 Annual Labor and Employment Status.
The Philippine Statistics Authority estimated the national underemployment rate at 18.3% in 2016.
https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/labor-force-survey/node/69636

SELECTED RECOGNITION

Honorable Mention — Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3), 2023
Press / People-Personality
https://px3.fr/winners/hm/2023/1-112993-23/

FEATURE / READ MORE

Read the FMT feature on La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion:
“Documenting humanity across borders with his pictures”
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2026/06/06/documenting-humanity-across-borders-with-his-pictures

From La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion, an ongoing photographic and moving-image project by Shukri Zali, begun in 2004.
Photography and text © Shukri Zali. All rights reserved.

Editorial note: AI-assisted tools supported research organisation, source verification and language refinement. The concept, field observations, interpretation, image selection and final editorial decisions are the author’s own. All sources and final wording were reviewed and approved by the author.

27/08/2026

A PRESENCE IN SHADOW

Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia, 2005

Previously unpublished, this photograph belongs to The Land Below the Wind, a subchapter within From Borneo to Indochina, one of the two principal chapters of La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion.

Originally photographed on colour reversal film (positive transparency), it is presented here in black and white.

According to the photographer’s field record, the subject is a Dusun Lobu elder from Sook. The community’s name appears under varying spellings, particularly Lobu and Lobou, across linguistic and ethnographic sources. [1]

Only his profile and woven headpiece emerge clearly from the darkness. The photograph does not attempt to catalogue the sitter or make every marker of identity fully visible.

The title A Presence in Shadow refers to what the image preserves without completely disclosing: an individual encounter, a cultural presence and a face held within partial light.

RESEARCH NOTES

[1] DUSUN LOBU / LOBOU
Malaysian academic sources record Lobou among the numerous communities within Sabah’s wider Kadazandusun cultural and linguistic landscape.

Glottolog uses the standardised linguistic name Lanas Lobu, with the ISO 639-3 code ruu, and classifies the language as threatened. Terminology and classification are not entirely uniform across sources.

The identification of the subject is retained from the photographer’s field information and cannot be established from appearance or clothing alone.

Glottolog — Lanas Lobu
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/lana1236

FEATURE / READ MORE

Read the FMT Lifestyle feature on La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion:
“Documenting humanity across borders with his pictures”
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/.../documenting...

From La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion, an ongoing photographic and moving-image project by Shukri Zali, begun in 2004.
Photography and text © Shukri Zali. All rights reserved.

Editorial note: AI-assisted tools supported research organisation and language refinement. The field information, concept, interpretation and final editorial decisions are the author’s own. All sources and final wording were reviewed and approved by the author.

25/08/2026

25/08/2026

24/26 — THE WEIGHT OF STONE AND GESTURE

Southern Vietnam, 28 February 2025

This photograph belongs to West of the Champa Sea, the Chăm subchapter within From Borneo to Indochina, one of the principal chapters of La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion.

During Ramưwan, ancestral remembrance occupies an important place in Chăm Bani religious life. Families visit ancestral grave grounds, where graves are tended and religious specialists perform prayers and rites associated with remembering and inviting the ancestors to return.[1][2]

At the cemetery, a Chăm Bani priest works beside the stone graves with concentrated attention.
The weight of stone meets the precision of gesture.

These gestures are neither monumental nor permanent. They have to be performed again — by hands returning to the same ground, through practices carried from one generation to another.
Here, memory is not only recalled. It is maintained through gesture.

REFERENCE NOTES

[1] Yasuko Yoshimoto, “A Study of the Hồi giáo Religion in Vietnam: With a Reference to Islamic Religious Practices of Cham Bani,” Southeast Asian Studies, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University.
Yoshimoto describes Ramuwan as a central period in Chăm Bani religious life and documents visits to ancestral graveyards, the invitation of ancestral spirits to return, and the role of acar religious specialists in rites connected with ancestors.
https://englishkyoto-seas.org/2014/02/vol-1-no-3-yasuko-yoshimoto/

[2] “Praxis and policy: Discourse on Cham Bani religious identity in Vietnam,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Cambridge University Press.
The study describes the Mbeng Muk Kei ceremonies associated with Ramâwan, during which Chăm Bani communities visit ancestral graves (ghur), care for them and invite the ancestors to return. It also notes the presence of acar and other clerics during these rites.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-southeast-asian-studies/article/praxis-and-policy-discourse-on-cham-bani-religious-identity-in-vietnam/06B490A27069397273F92ACC4A0E034D

2025 contextual reference: contemporary reporting from Ninh Thuận confirms that the opening observances of Ramưwan in February 2025 included ancestral-grave rites, followed by household ancestor ceremonies and the religious month that followed.
https://ninhthuantv.vn/tin-tuc/dong-bao-cham-ninh-thuan-bat-dau-tet-ramuwan

FEATURE / READ MORE

Read the FMT feature on La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion:
“Documenting humanity across borders with his pictures”
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2026/06/06/documenting-humanity-across-borders-with-his-pictures

From La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion, an ongoing photographic and moving-image project by Shukri Zali, begun in 2004.
Photography and text © Shukri Zali. All rights reserved.

Editorial note: AI-assisted tools supported research organisation and language refinement. The concept, selection of facts, interpretation and final editorial decisions are the author’s own. All sources and final wording were reviewed and approved by the author.

25/08/2026

THE HOURS BETWEEN

Cebu, Philippines, 2016

Previously unpublished, this photograph belongs to Sugbo, a subchapter within From Borneo to Indochina, one of the two principal chapters of La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion.

Market time is not made only of transactions. Labour, waiting and rest occupy the same space, while the day continues around what remains to be sold.

The title The Hours Between refers to time rarely counted as labour but inseparable from it: the intervals between customers, tasks, wakefulness and sleep.

Within Sugbo, the photograph presents the market not simply as a place of commerce, but as a lived environment where livelihood and everyday life overlap.

FEATURE / READ MORE

Read the FMT Lifestyle feature on La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion:
“Documenting humanity across borders with his pictures”
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/.../documenting...

From La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion, an ongoing photographic and moving-image project by Shukri Zali, begun in 2004.
Photography and text © Shukri Zali. All rights reserved.

Editorial note: AI-assisted tools supported research organisation and language refinement. The field observation, concept, interpretation and final editorial decisions are the author’s own.

25/08/2026

18/26 — VATTANAC

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

This photograph belongs to The Great Lake of Hope, the Cambodia subchapter within From Borneo to Indochina, one of the principal chapters of La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion.

In Phnom Penh, a gesture of prayer occupies the same visual space as the Vattanac name. Vattanac Capital has become a prominent presence in contemporary Phnom Penh. The development combines offices, retail and hospitality, while its architectural conception incorporates references to feng shui and the Naga.[1]

The photograph does not establish an opposition between faith and commerce, nor does it attempt to explain the circumstances or intentions of the person shown.

What remains is their proximity.
A private gesture of devotion takes place within a city shaped by commerce, development and aspiration. The relationship between these elements is left unresolved: they may suggest tension, coexistence, contradiction, or simply the simultaneous realities of everyday life.
The gesture remains private, even as the language of commerce enters the same frame.

REFERENCE NOTES

[1] Vattanac Capital — official information.

Vattanac Capital describes the Phnom Penh development as combining office, retail and hospitality functions, and discusses the architectural references incorporated into the building.
https://www.vattanaccapital.com/company/about-us/
https://www.vattanaccapital.com/news-and-events/vattanac-capital-celebrates-its-official-inauguration-in-the-heart-of-the-capital-phnom-penh/

FEATURE / READ MORE

Read the FMT feature on La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion:
“Documenting humanity across borders with his pictures”
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2026/06/06/documenting-humanity-across-borders-with-his-pictures

From La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion, an ongoing photographic and moving-image project by Shukri Zali, begun in 2004.

Photography and text © Shukri Zali. All rights reserved.

Editorial note: AI-assisted tools supported research organisation and language refinement. The concept, selection of facts, interpretation and final editorial decisions are the author’s own. All sources and final wording were reviewed and approved by the author.

25/08/2026

03/26 — ELOPURA

Sandakan, Sabah, Borneo, c. 2012
This photograph belongs to The Land Below the Wind, the Sabah subchapter within From Borneo to Indochina, one of the principal chapters of La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion.

The title ELOPURA recalls an earlier name associated with Sandakan. Historical accounts record that William B. Pryer gave the new settlement the name Elopura in 1879, generally understood as “Beautiful Town” or “Beautiful City”. The older name, Sandakan, nevertheless endured.[1]

Sandakan itself appears to carry an older linguistic history. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka traces the name to the Suluk word sanda, associated with pledging or pawning.[2] What precisely gave rise to the place-name is less certain, and the linguistic association should not by itself be taken to mean that Sandakan was literally “pawned” in a particular historical transaction.

By the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the northeastern coast of Borneo, including the Sandakan region, was closely connected to the political and commercial world of the Sultanate of Sulu. Historical scholarship places this coast within the wider maritime world sometimes described as the “Sulu Zone”. The deeper origins and extent of Sulu sovereignty in relation to earlier Bruneian claims remain disputed.[3]

The photograph itself belongs to another layer of Sandakan altogether. It was made at Puu Jih Shih Temple, a Buddhist temple set on the hills above the city, overlooking Sandakan Bay and toward the Sulu Sea.[4] This religious and cultural presence belongs to a much later history than the older Bornean and Sulu worlds evoked by the name of the place.

Along the roofline, human labour meets sacred architecture beneath a large field of darkness.

The photograph does not attempt to illustrate Sandakan’s history. Instead, the title allows different histories to remain quietly present behind an image made much later: an older name, a Buddhist structure from another cultural layer, and workers occupying the place only for a moment.

There is no single line of continuity between them. What connects them is the place itself — a place looking outward across the sea while carrying successive names, peoples, beliefs and histories.

Places endure while their meanings accumulate, shift and sometimes become obscured.

REFERENCE NOTES

1] Majlis Perbandaran Sandakan — Sejarah Awal Sandakan.

The municipal history records the development of the new settlement under William B. Pryer in 1879 and states that he named it Elopura, meaning Bandar yang Indah — “Beautiful Town/City”.
https://mps.sabah.gov.my/sandakan.htm

[2] Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka — Sandakan, PRPM / Ensiklopedia.

DBP traces Sandakan to the Suluk word sanda, associated with sandar or gadai. It also records a local explanation connecting the name with pledging goods for money; this should be treated as a recorded explanation rather than proof of a specific historical transaction.

https://prpm.dbp.gov.my/Cari1?d=243192&keyword=sandakan

[3] Michael Yeo, “Before the port city: coastal settlements and colonialism in Borneo,” Urban History, Cambridge University Press.

The study examines Sabah’s coastal political world between the 1770s and 1870s, including northeastern Borneo’s relationship with the Sulu Sultanate before British colonial administration. Questions concerning the historical basis and extent of competing Brunei and Sulu territorial claims remain contested.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/urban-history/article/before-the-port-city-coastal-settlements-and-colonialism-in-borneo/25B301620F838F25444FA7C2C315BF88

[4] Sabah Tourism Board — Puu Jih Shih Temple.
Identifies Puu Jih Shih as a Buddhist temple in Sandakan, situated on elevated ground above the city.
https://sabahtourism.com/destination/puu-jih-shih-temple/

FEATURE / READ MORE
Read the FMT feature on La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion:
“Documenting humanity across borders with his pictures”
Read the FMT feature

From La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion, an ongoing photographic and moving-image project by Shukri Zali, begun in 2004.
Photography and text © Shukri Zali. All rights reserved.

Editorial note: AI-assisted tools supported research organisation and language refinement. The concept, selection of facts, interpretation and final editorial decisions are the author’s own. All sources and final wording were reviewed and approved by the author.