Jihan Salleh, better known in the world of NFTs as Lakar Umbi, is an artist-musician. She is one part of the soundscape duo, Kicau Bilau, alongside her husband Ahmad Irfan. Jihan plays the angklung and the duo has performed both locally in places like The Habitat in Penang, The Godown and Pasar Seni in Kuala Lumpur, as well as internationally in countries such as Australia, Italy, Greece and Hungary.
“I have also always loved drawing as a hobby and one day in June 2020, a friend of mine asked if I was interested to start minting my work for NFTs?” said Jihan on how she started in the world of NFTs. Seeing that there was nothing to lose as she was already uploading her drawings on Instagram, she ventured forth as “Lakar Umbi” focusing on digital drawings. Lakar Umbi is a play of the words “akar-umbi” (roots) and “lakar” (to sketch). “I think it’s a great reminder for myself to remember how i first started because this all begins with me, sketching for fun on paper,” Jihan said.
Active mostly on TEIA as it is one of the platforms that supports a clean NFT movement, Jihan’s subject matters are almost always women. “I try to use my own interpretations of certain subjects or issues that circle around women and I create an illustration based on that,” Jihan said. She works alongside her partner – Jihan creates an illustration while her partner, Tingkah Lagu, creates an audio composition so they are able to bridge art and music for the NFT market. She describes her work as “exploring lines and audio-visual NFT”.