This is something I started in response to the detention of Maria Chin Abdullah, Chairperson of Bersih 2.0. Bersih is a movement for free and fair elections in Malaysia. Maria was arrested on 18 Nov 2016 under SOSMA (Security Offenses Special Measures Act 2012), a cruel and draconian law that allows for detention without trial.… Read more
Created for Festival Filem Meowlaysia 1, Malaysia’s first Cat Video Festival, which premiered at Art For Grabs on 24 Sept 2016. Here is the story in BM and English, with notes and tips at the end (in case you want to make your own). **** BONTOT PINK Ini kucing belaan kami. Nama dia Mini-PSB. Bulu hitam,… Read more
On 8 Sept 2016, a reporter from Malay Mail Online contacted me on Whatsapp. He’d gotten my contact through a friend I trust and respect. He wanted to do a story about political art, focusing on the contradictions when artists collude with the establishment despite making anti-establishment artwork. When I told him I live in… Read more
Here is a taste of what I’ve been working on for the past few weeks, in a little attic studio at the top of Hotel Penaga, where I’ve been artist/parasite-in-residence since mid-May. These linocut illustrations for Zedeck’s ‘Local Fauna’ story collection have been in progress for two years. I checked the date of the very… Read more
1. Ten Weeds and Ten Thoughts On Revolution 2. On Turning 35 3. How To Look At an Art Exhibition 4. Thoughts On Boxing: The First Time I Sparred 5. Mother Tongue, Daughter Language 6. How I’ve Been Using Readlang to Study Malay 7. Ten: Ten Friends and Ten Things They’ve Learned By Doing A… Read more
On 20 Feb 2016, I sat down to have a conversation in public with Sze, my friend and cohort. I’d been wanting to do a talk about taking part in APT8 (8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art), but was tired with the usual slideshow-followed-by-Q&A format. Sze suggested doing the talk as an interview, which… Read more
I’ve known and loved Kwai Fei’s works for almost a decade. Painting Suite (2008), a triptych* of his earliest minimalist geometric paintings hangs in my bedroom. [* A triptych is a set of three separate works that are meant to be seen together as one complete work. A diptych would be a set of two separate… Read more
Shika, besides being an artist who has shown at the Singapore Biennale, a Nippon Foundation API (Asian Public Intellectual) scholar, a transgender activist, and a prolific blogger, designer, illustrator, and graffiti writer, is also lead singer for the Ting Tong Ketz. I watched them play a couple of weeks ago. ‘Pulang, marilah pulang, ke pangkal… Read more
