About the Artists

A

Agus Suwage (b. 1959, Purworejo, Central Java, Indonesia) studied graphic design at Institut Teknologi Bandung from 1979 to 1986.

H is earlier works leaned more towards social commentary themes, expressing the hopes and frustrations of a generation swept up in power shifts and identity, influenced by both national renewal and globalisation. Expressed through intimate and personal narratives, his works broadly discuss cultural and political themes, helping us understand the schemes of power and authority that influence our lives today. For over 25 years, he has created self-portraits, often using unconventional materials and tools, to investigate his position as a subject related to the social context around him. This aligns with his personal principle of “Before criticising others, it’s better to criticise oneself first.” In this sense, his works provide a real depiction of the intersection of national identity, politics, society and individual expression that takes us into complex psychological spaces.

He has held solo exhibitions in Asia, Europe and the US, and exhibited in numerous international exhibitions, including the 2nd Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (1996), 6th Bienal de La Habana: The individual and his memory (1997), Gwangju Biennial: 人 (Man) (2000), Singapore Biennale: Belief (2006), Prospect New Orleans (2014–2015) and SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now (National Art Center, Tokyo, 2017). In 2009, he held a major review, Still Crazy After All These Years, at Jogja National Museum, and in 2022, Museum MACAN Jakarta held a 30-year review of his work. He lives and works in Yogyakarta.

Ahmad Fuad Osman (b. 1969, Baling, Kedah, Malaysia) studied fine art at Institut Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam (now UiTM), graduating in 1991.

A co-founding member of the now disbanded MATAHATI art collective, he was also involved in the Malaysian film and theatre industry in the 1990s. This period caused a shift in his artistic practice from painting to conceptual multidisciplinary works encompassing sculpture, print, video, installation and performance. Socio-political themes have long been a key concern as he investigates subject matters such as identity politics, the abuse of power and historical amnesia. Using a potent mix of wit and philosophy, he speaks to a broad spectrum of society on challenging subjects.

He has held residencies at Vermont Studio Centre (Freeman Foundation Asian Artists Fellowship, 2004), Goyang National Art Studio (Asian Artists Fellowship, 2005) and Rimbun Dahan (2007–2008). He was awarded Juror’s Choice at the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize in 2008. International exhibition participations include Welcome to the Jungle: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia from the Collection of Singapore Art Museum (Yokohama Museum of Art/The Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, 2013), Singapore Biennale: An Atlas of Mirrors (2016) and Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber (2019). In 2019, National Art Gallery Malaysia held a major mid-career review, Ahmad Fuad Osman: At the end of the day even art is not important, 1990–2019. He lives and works in Selangor, Malaysia.

Ahmad Shukri Mohamed(b. 1969, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia) studied fine art at Institut Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam (now UiTM), graduating in 1991. He was a co-founding member of the now disbanded MATAHATI art collective, and has previously taught at UiTM.

A versatile artist, he has worked across various media in his paintings and installations, which are often built in layers, using found, industrial and household materials, canvas, paint and paper. Works tend to spring from particular responses to his surroundings, sometimes relating to society and politics, popular culture or environmental concerns, merging the local with the global to create a symbolic narrative. He maintains that the only constant in his art is change. Early international participations include the 4th Asian Art Show Fukuoka: Realism as an Attitude (1994), 10th Asian Art Biennale, Bangladesh (2001) and Sharjah Biennial 6: Thinking Historically in the Present (2003). He won the major award at National Art Gallery Malaysia’s Young Contemporaries (1997) and Juror’s Choice at the Philip Morris ASEAN Art Awards (1999). He was artist-in-residence at Rimbun Dahan in 2002. In 2007, with artist Umibaizurah Ismail, he co-founded Patisatu Studio, a workshop/residency/gallery/studio space dedicated to the development of contemporary ceramics. He lives and works in Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

Ahmad Zakii Anwar(b. 1955, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia) studied at the School of Art and Design, Institut Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam (now UiTM), graduating in 1977.

He began his career in advertising as an illustrator and graphic designer before turning to fine art practice. He came to attention for his virtuosity and command of a spectrum of media, building a reputation for photorealist still life paintings and expressive portraits. His large-scale charcoal drawings of solitary male nudes reflect his theological, psychological and cosmological inquiries into the human spirit and body, while other works capture the psychological dimension and cinematic quality of urban life. His preoccupation with the spiritual or metaphysical aspects of contemporary life is seen through his use of icons, symbols and allegories. Metaphors of theatre, performance and masks have also marked his practice.

His work has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Manila. Galeri PETRONAS, Kuala Lumpur, held Disclosure, a retrospective of his work in 2008, and NUS Museum, Singapore, held a solo exhibition, Being, in 2009. He took part in the 1st KL Biennale: Alami Belas Beloved in 2017. He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Arif Fauzan Othman(b. 1979, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia) studied fine art (majoring in painting) at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam, graduating in 2001.

Working comfortably with both figurative and abstract approaches to painting, he often delves into semantic play. His oil on canvas paintings depict symbolic figures that convey social values represented by intellectual dichotomies and cultural beliefs.

He held his first solo exhibition, Sublime Images, at Arti Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 2012. He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

B

Bayu Utomo Radjikin (b. 1969, Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia) studied fine art at Institut Teknologi MARA (now UiTM), graduating in 1991. He was a co-founding member of the now disbanded MATAHATI art collective.

A practising artist for over three decades, he has focused on a diverse range of subject matter from public and personal identity through to social commentary and international political tensions. His approach to figurative paintings has been described as a signature form of “epic realism”. These works, usually based on the artist’s self-portrait, centre on a Malay male protagonist in performance, where his body becomes a site of action, power and paradox.

He has won several awards including the Major Award at National Art Gallery Malaysia’s Young Contemporaries in 1991, and a Minor Award at Salon Malaysia the following year. Apart from Malaysia, he has exhibited in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, the UK and USA. He took part in the 1st KL Biennale: Alami Belas Beloved in 2017. He is a co-founder and director of HOM Art Trans, an independent art space in Ampang, Selangor, co-founder of Malaysian Art Archive & Research Support (MAARS) and founding member of printmaking studio Chetak 17. He lives and works in Selangor, Malaysia.

C

Carlo Gabuco(b. 1981, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines) studied fine art (majoring in painting) at Philippine Women’s University.

A visual artist and independent photographer, his work dives deep into societal, historical, and developmental themes. His body of work, spanning both photography and painting, explores the complexities of power, history, religion, and societal change.

His ongoing, multidisciplinary projects delve into the intricate interplay between personal narratives and societal structures, offering a profound and nuanced perspective on the complexities of the human experience within broader social contexts.

His paintings and photographs have been exhibited in multiple countries. In 2008, he held a residency at HOM Art Trans in Kuala Lumpur. He was awarded a Magnum Foundation Fund Grant in 2017, and won the 13 Artists Award from the Cultural Centre of the Philippines in 2018. In 2019, he was a fellow at the Magnum Foundation Social Justice Fellowship and Photography in New York. He lives and works in Manila.

Chan Kok Hooi(b. 1974, Penang, Malaysia) studied fine art at Malaysian Institute of Art, graduating in 1996.

He tries to see things in different ways, combining his observations with his imagination to explore various aspects of lives and objects, as well as the depth of human psyches. Constantly experimenting with various materials and subject matters, he continues to seek different possibilities for his paintings and the deeper meanings of life and existence.

He was among the top five winners of the Philip Morris Malaysia ASEAN Art Awards in 2003, and won a Jury Award at National Art Gallery Malaysia’s Young Contemporaries in 2007. He has held residencies at Vermont Studio Centre (Freeman Foundation Asian Artists Fellowship, 2007), Malihom, Penang (2007), and Red Gate Gallery, Beijing (Galeri PETRONAS International Visual Arts Residency, 2008). He has exhibited widely in Asia, as well as in the UK and USA. He lives and works in Penang.

Chang Yoong Chia(b. 1975, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) studied fine art (majoring in painting) at Malaysian Institute of Art, graduating in 1996. He was a founding member of now defunct artist-run space and collective Spacekraft in 1999.

He explores different kinds of materials but with the sensibility of a painter. Focusing on the intricate mix of ethnicity, religion and history in Malaysia, and stories of individuals living there, he turns these into artworks that tell universal stories. His works, ranging from paintings on canvas, painted animal and plant remains and household objects, stamp collages and embroidery, explore topics such as politics, religion, culture and nature. Repeated gestures and complex methods reflect a commitment to craft in which the artist’s labour adds another layer of meaning to the work. Placing importance on material, he believes that each medium has its own characteristics and symbolism thus new interpretations are conjured when found or mundane objects are transformed in an almost alchemical fashion.

Actively exhibiting locally and internationally, participations include the 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (2005), Welcome to the Jungle: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia from the Collection of Singapore Art Museum (Yokohama Museum of Art/Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, 2013), Open Sea (Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, 2015) and 1st KL Biennale: Alami Belas Beloved (2017). He was a finalist for the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize 2011. He has taken part in several residency programmes, among them Rimbun Dahan (2006), JENESYS Program Sapporo Artist in Residence (2008), 1 Shanthi Road Artist Residency, Bangalore (2012) and Leipzig International Art Programme (2020). National Art Gallery Malaysia held a mid-career survey, Chang Yoong Chia: Second Life, in 2018. He lives and works in Tangkak, Johor, Malaysia.

Cheong Kiet Cheng(b. 1981, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) studied fine art at Dasein Academy of Art, graduating in 2006, after exploring journalism, photography, and drama.

Her paintings have consistently highlighted the relationship between humans and nature. The situations she creates convey overriding feelings of beauty and love, using meditative, repetitive forms, even as underlying elements of tension between the human and animal figures emphasise that imperfection is unavoidable. As an artist, she is interested in sharing positive energy through her work, rather than conforming to conventional aesthetics in art, drawing much of her inspiration from philosophy, literature, poetry, music, and theatre.

She has won several major awards and prizes over the years, including the UOB Painting of the Year Award (Malaysia) 2018, participating in the UOB-Fukuoka Asian Art Museum’s Artists Residency Programme that year. She has participated in a number of solo and group exhibitions in Malaysia and around Asia. She lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Chong Kim Chiew(b. 1975, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) studied oil painting at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art. He was a member of the now dormant multidisciplinary artist collective Rumah Air Panas.

An artist and curator who enjoys the openness of art language, he works across different mediums, methods and paradigms, and believes the most critical factor in contemporary art is “attitude”. His installation works comment on the social and political environment of the exhibition sites. Seeing the meaning of materials as linked to the environment, he regards materials as being non-static but constantly fluctuating, expanding outwards and prone to being misread.

He has held several solo exhibitions and participated widely in group exhibitions in Malaysia, around Southeast Asia and internationally, including Open Sea (Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, 2015), 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (2021) and Busan Biennale: We, on the Rising Wave (2022). He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Chong Siew Ying(b. 1969, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) studied fine art at the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts de Versailles from 1991–1995, and from 1995–1997 enrolled and taught printmaking at Atelier 63. From 2001 to 2011, her practice was based between Paris and Kuala Lumpur, after which she settled back in Malaysia.

She is an artist whose practice and philosophy are grounded in both Eastern and Western aesthetics and sensibilities. Her subject matter draws from her personal journey and growth. Her work is intuitive, with an intimacy which speaks to the senses and emotions of its viewers.

In 1999–2000, she was an early participant of the artist residency programme at Rimbun Dahan, and in 2001 received an Asian Artists Fellowship from Freeman Foundation, Vermont Studio Centre. She has held solo exhibitions in Paris, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and participated in group exhibitions internationally. She lives and works between Kuala Lumpur and Janda Baik, Pahang, Malaysia.

Chong Yan Chuah(b. 1992, Selangor, Malaysia) studied architecture at Newcastle University and then at the Architectural Association (AA) in London from 2011 to 2017. He was a co-founder and former director of international digital design studio Inferstudio (2017–2018).

He works primarily in the mediums of digital image, game art and installation art. His main interest is in our lived environments and the fictional worlds he creates, which in turn challenge our perceptions of these spaces, realities, and experiences. Inspired by the idea of an escape, each world serves as an extension of real life, or an allegory of his emotional state — rather than a creation of a new reality. The otherworldly feelings, characters, and elements that populate his digital works are results of his playful approach towards art-making, seeking to experiment around the concept of artist as explorer: one who discovers and reveals the unknown.

He held his first solo exhibition, 27 Years of Lazarian Delights, at The Back Room, Kuala Lumpur in 2020. He has taken part in exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal Institute of British Architects, NTU ADM Gallery Singapore, National Museum of Singapore, and ILHAM Gallery Kuala Lumpur. He took part in Maybank Foundation’s Artist Fellowship Programme in 2023. He is director of Somnii, an art direction, digital imagination and research studio. He has based his practice between London and Kuala Lumpur since 2020.

D

Drew Harris (b. 1960, Toronto, Canada) studied fine arts and graphic design at Georgian College of Applied Arts (1979–1982). He is an abstract artist, graphic designer, artist coach, podcast host and author who has resided in Malaysia since 2007.

Recognised for his ethereal and deeply rich abstract works, he has had an extensive exhibiting history in Malaysia and Southeast Asia beginning in 1993 and continues developing work from his Kuala Lumpur studio for exhibitions in Canada, USA and the EU in 2024 and 2025.

E

Edroger Rosili(b. 1985, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia) studied fine art (majoring in painting) at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), graduating in 2009.

In his practice, he juggles between multiple bodies of work almost simultaneously, exploring a variety of styles and forms that express his thoughts on socio-politics, cultural transaction, the personal, the universal, and abstraction. He held his first solo exhibition, WOYM? (What’s On Your Mind?), at TAKSU Kuala Lumpur in 2013. He was among the artists selected for HOM Art Trans’ Young Guns Awards in 2016, and won a Jury Award at National Art Gallery Malaysia’s Young Contemporaries in 2019. In 2018, he was artist-in-residence at ACCAsia Art Space Network Residency, Gwangju. He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Erik Pauhrizi(b. 1981, Bandung, Indonesia) studied at the Faculty of Art and Design, Institut Teknologi Bandung, graduating cum laude in 2005. He lived in Berlin and obtained a Diplom Freie Kunst (Magister Artium) at Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig from 2009 to 2012 under Professor Michael Brynntrup. He was promoted to Meisterschülerstudium (Doctoral Practice) at the same university, graduating summa cum laude in 2016.

He has worked across various mediums, including painting, sculpture, embroidery, photography, experimental film, video art and performance in a practice centred on decolonial issues and analysing how the human figure is represented in our global political culture.

He has held solo exhibitions in Semarang, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and New York, and residencies with The New Museum of Contemporary Art and Westbeth Artists Community in New York (Asian Cultural Council grant, 2010) and frei_raum Q21 (MuseumsQuartier Vienna, 2014). He has exhibited in numerous group shows in Indonesia and internationally. He lives in Bandung, where he works as a visual artist, experimental filmmaker, researcher, and lecturer for the Film and Television Study Program at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia.

F

Faizal Suhif(b. 1984, Muar, Johor, Malaysia) studied fine art at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malacca and then UiTM, Shah Alam, graduating with a master’s in 2013. He is a key member of the printmaking collective GoBlock and a founding member of printmaking studio Chetak 17.

His practice spans across various mediums although he works primarily with charcoal and printmaking. Nature is a prominent subject in his practice as he is often intrigued by the interplay of order and randomness that is found where man and nature meet.

His first solo exhibition was held in 2002 at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Air Hitam Bt 15 in Muar, Johor. With nine solo exhibitions to date, he has actively exhibited locally and abroad in Bangladesh, Japan, Germany, Singapore, Indonesia, Türkiye and China. He has participated in residencies in Selangor, Penang, Kuala Lumpur (Barehands Asian Artist Residency), Langkawi, Bali, Bandung and Macedonia. He was the recipient of the Bronze Award for UOB Painting of the Year (Malaysia) 2015 and among the artists selected for HOM Art Trans’ Young Guns Awards in 2016. He lives and works in Selangor, Malaysia.

Fauzulyusri (b. 1974, Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia) studied fine art (majoring in drawing) at Institut Teknologi MARA (now UiTM) Shah Alam, graduating in 1999.

Over his more than two decade-long career, he has pushed his painting practice in new directions while maintaining a vocabulary of individual mark-making. Heavy-bodied pigments like oil paints, pumice and industrial texture paste complement the signature surface scarring, loose irreverence, and layering that have become fundamental to the structure of his images.

In 2004, he won a Jury Award at National Gallery Malaysia’s Young Contemporaries. With 14 solo exhibitions to date, he has actively exhibited in group exhibitions locally and internationally in Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Korea, the Czech Republic, and the UK. He lives and works in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

G

Geraldine Javier (b. 1970, Makati City, Philippines) studied nursing at University of the Philippines, Manila and then fine art (majoring in painting) at University of the Philippines, Diliman, graduating in 1997. From 1999–2003 she was a member of the Surrounded By Water collective.

She is a painter and a multimedia artist, often incorporating thread works in her pieces. Her nursing background and the confined, oppressive environment in Manila led her to reflect on death and mortality in a sombre manner in her early works. However, the move to Batangas, a province in its outskirts, changed the mood of her practice, its expansive greenery allowing her to indulge in other passions — gardening and farming. Through the years, she has found ways to incorporate materials from her farm and integrate natural farming practices in her art making. She has been making expansive installations that deal with various environmental issues with the help of her community in Ibabao, Cuenca, Batangas.

She won the 13 Artists Award from the Cultural Centre of the Philippines in 2003, and the Ateneo Art Award in 2004. She has held over 30 solo exhibitions in Manila, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Shanghai and Berlin. Group exhibition participations include the 4th Prague Biennale (2009), The 13th Bienal de La Habana: Constructing the Possible (2019) and 35th Bienal de São Paulo (2023). She lives and works in Batangas.

H

Haffendi Anuar(b. 1985, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia) completed his foundation at Rhode Island School of Design (2007) before studying fine art at Central Saint Martins (2013) and obtaining an MFA from Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford (2020).

He enjoyed painting landscapes at an early age and developed an interest in nature, not only in a physical sense, but also as a dimension informed by design, objects, politics and technology. Through his multidisciplinary practice, his works examine the depictions of nature in digital and material forms, utilising various mediums that are often exposed to physical modifications such as vinyl prints and sculpture.

He has taken part in a few residencies, including Rimbun Dahan in 2015 and 2017 (collaborative residency with Veronika Neukirch), ACME Studio, London (Khazanah Residency Programme, 2018) and the Kooshk Artist Residency Award (KARA), Iran (2019). He was awarded the Ashmolean Museum Vivien Leigh Art Prize in 2020 and PULSE Awards: Art for Life (2-D Painting) in Thailand in 2021. He exhibits regularly in London, Kuala Lumpur and internationally. IKON Gallery, Birmingham held a solo exhibition of his work, Rumah Berkaki (Legged House), in 2022. He lives and works in London, where he is a visiting tutor at City and Guilds of London Art School and directs the Gerald Moore Gallery.

Hamir Soib(b. 1969, Johor, Malaysia) studied fine art at MARA Institute of Technology (now UiTM), graduating in 1991.

A co-founding member of the now disbanded MATAHATI art collective, he started his career as a set designer and backdrop painter for theatre and film productions. Recognised for the dramatic lighting and narrative imagery of his canvases that reflect these experiences, his works serve as satirical responses to the rapid development of the city, politics, and culture in Malaysia. In 2005 he set up his studio Gudang, which would also come to be used as an alternative platform and residency space for fellow artists.

He has been a participant in numerous group exhibitions in Malaysia and abroad, including at institutions such as Galeri Seni Johor, Galeri PETRONAS and National Art Gallery Malaysia. In 2006, he was a resident artist at Malihom, Penang, and he was a finalist for The Sovereign Asian Art Prize in Hong Kong in 2007.

Hannah Nazamil(b. 1995, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia) studied fine art at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, graduating with a masters in 2019.

She is an artist who is interested in exploring different modes of creation. Her recent works spring from an interest in the concept of material intelligence. Process-oriented, they explore the multitude of ways that dye can be applied to develop organic forms and compositions, interrogating the relationship between maker and material through the process of making.

She took part in the Saung Banon Arts Residency programme in Yogyakarta in 2017, and in 2020 commenced another residency at JALAK Art Initiative, where she held her first solo exhibition in 2021. Also a designer, she lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Hasanul Isyraf Idris(b. 1978, Perak, Malaysia) studied at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Perak, graduating in 2000. From 2015 to 2018, he was an active member of Run Amok collective.

His practice spans a variety of media, including painting, drawing, installation, video work and sculpture. His works typically manifest hybrid fictional and surreal iconography drawn from personal invention and from a melange of pop cultural references, such as comic books, science fiction, street art and film. He personifies his personal struggles as an artist with strange characters and creatures that inhabit his invented universes.

He was awarded a Jury Prize at National Art Gallery Malaysia’s Young Contemporaries in 2007 and the Gold Award (Established Artist Category), UOB Painting of the Year (Malaysia) 2023. Selected institutional exhibitions include Tranchée Racine, Halle Saint Pierre, France (2021) and Another Continent, Taitung Art Museum, Taiwan (2022). He has been involved in an ongoing community basket weaving project in Sabah since 2019. He lives and works in Penang.

Hisyamuddin Abdullah(b. 1989, Marang, Terengganu, Malaysia) studied fine art at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, graduating in 2012.

Working mostly with charcoal and acrylic, his paintings can be distinguished by how they hold notes of serenity, as well as a powerful tension. With a creative perspective grounded in satire, humour, sarcasm, and an element of magic realism, his works comment on his personal beliefs about the current sociopolitical climate of modern-day Malaysia through different stages of experience.

As a student, he won 1st Prize in both Mixed Media and Oil/Acrylic categories at the Tanjong Heritage National Level Art Competition in 2011, and was among the artists selected for HOM Art Trans’ Young Guns Awards in 2016. He held his first solo show, SArKAs, at TAKSU Kuala Lumpur in 2014. He has exhibited extensively in Malaysia and Singapore, and his works have featured in art fairs and gallery shows in Bangkok, Kaohsiung and Seoul. He lives and works in Ara Damansara, Selangor, Malaysia.

J

J. Ariadhitya Pramuhendra(b. 1984, Semarang, Indonesia) studied fine art (majoring in printmaking) at Institut Teknologi Bandung, graduating in 2007.

Known as an artist with a unique approach to drawing, his transition from printmaking to dry media, particularly charcoal pencil on paper or canvas, has resulted in intense, meticulous and rich grayscale images. Whether working with drawings, installations or photography, he maintains a commitment to black and white aesthetics. His process involves staging scenes, photographing them, and then meticulously transferring them onto canvas using only charcoal and his fingers. His use of chiaroscuro becomes a metaphorical exploration where light symbolises the divine presence, resulting in realistic yet dramatic compositions.

In 2011, he won Institut Teknologi Bandung’s Soemardja Art Award for Artist of the Year under 30 years old. He has held solo exhibitions in Jakarta, Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore, including at the National University Singapore Museum (Spacing Identities, 2009) and Galeri Nasional Indonesia (Monster Chapter II: Momentum, 2019). He lives and works in Bandung.

Jimmy Ong(b. 1964, Singapore) trained at Center for Creative Studies, Detroit and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Since the 1980s, he has been recognised for his monumental figurative charcoal works on paper. His early drawings took on patriarchy and ancestral worship to untangle queer relationships and gender roles. In recent years, he has started to reimagine the colonial history of Java and Singapore.

He has exhibited extensively locally and internationally. In 2010, he returned to Singapore as artist in residence at Singapore Tyler Print Institute. In 2019, presentations of his work on Sir Stamford Raffles were featured at both Asian Civilisations Museum and NUS Museum in Singapore. He lives and works between Penang and Yogyakarta.

Jumaldi Alfi(b. 1973, Lintau, Indonesia) graduated from Institut Seni Indonesia in 1999, and is a co-founder and member of Kelompok Seni Rupa Jendela (Jendela Art Group).

He is a painter who works sequentially on a set of ideas and themes, stimulated by objects originating from his reading of phenomena encountered in his interactions with his environment. Such readings can be in literal form, as text, quotations, or readings in context. He is interested in the paradoxes found in everyday situations, in the contradictions of what is written in text form and its context, in ambiguous conditions. His is a game that looks serious but can also be the opposite.

He has held solo exhibitions in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Milan, also participating regularly in group exhibitions in Indonesia and around Asia. In 2011 he co-founded the artists initiative OFCA (Office for Contemporary Art) International and in 2012 developed the arts complex SaRanG in Yogyakarta. He lives and works in Yogyakarta.

Justin Lim(b. 1983, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) studied fine art at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore/Open University UK, graduating with a master’s in 2006.

His paintings, installations and mixed media works are assemblages of appropriated imagery and borrowed signs from a variety of pop culture sources, including cult and popular films, cartoons, comic books and graphic posters. His works examine the contemporary social context, culture and religion through employing metaphors usually associated with urban subculture.

He has held residencies at Rimbun Dahan (2008), Vermont Studio Center (Freeman Foundation Asian Artist Fellowship, 2011), Red Gate Gallery, Beijing (Khazanah Residency Programme, 2013), University of Tasmania, and Artspace, Sydney (2016). Selected group exhibitions include Asian Art Biennale: Viewpoints & Viewing Points at Taiwan Museum Of Fine Arts (2009) and Contemporary Chaos at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Norway (2018). He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

K

Kaloy Sanchez (b. 1982, Malabon, Philippines) studied fine art at University of the Philippines, Dillman, graduating in 2006.

Through his paintings, he dissertates the existential context of human frailty within the confines of self-contained, sacred spaces. His nude figures, mostly kept in monochromatic grey tones, are often set in unsettling interiors, wherein reality is intensified through meticulous, painterly strokes that highlight the flaws of the flesh. In this comfortable and vulnerable state of imperfection, the bare, unclothed visage of the human form is stripped of all earthly pretensions and external, environmental noise. In the most quiet of moments, what remains is a silent, meditative expression of beauty that captures the essence of truth through questions that examine the metaphysics of human existence.

He has participated in group exhibitions in Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Osaka and Berlin. In 2022, he began staging exhibitions with the community-based initiative PARA Collective. He lives and works in Manila.

Kamal Mustafa(b. 1952, Sabak Bernam, Selangor, Malaysia) studied photographic arts (film) at Polytechnic of Central London, graduating in 1976, and spent the next three decades as an advertising film director. He has since retired and is currently pursuing his art practice full time since 2007.

His work process is now almost completely digital, alternating between painting, photography, mixed media, graphic storytelling, videos and animation. His personal experiences as a painter and filmmaker led to this convergence of different modes of image-making techniques. Additionally, he is interested in how narratives — both linear and non-linear — interact with other elements within a work, and how this could potentially expand the viewer's visual experience.

As a filmmaker, he won Best (ASEAN) Director at the Malaysian Video Awards (2002). He held his first solo exhibition, Simulations, in 2014, with Fergana Art at Whitebox@MAP Publika, Kuala Lumpur. He lives and works in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Kayleigh Goh(b. 1993, Johor Bahru, Malaysia) studied fine art at LASALLE College of the Arts and received her master’s in contemporary art from VCA, University of Melbourne in 2022.

Interested in the psychological and emotional healing qualities in paintings and spatial experiences, her art practice draws on poetic, meditative, auto-ethnographic reflections of urban architectural environments.

She has held residencies at Kura Studio, Fukuoka (2017) and Yogya Art Lab (2019). She held her first solo exhibition in 2018 with Gajah Gallery, Singapore, and has since actively shown in solo and group shows around the region. She is currently based between Naarm Melbourne, Singapore, and Johor, Malaysia.

Ksuda Loogthonged(b. 1983, Songkhla, Thailand) graduated from the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Bangkok University in 2006.

Her early works examine urbanisation and the effect of consumerism on her rural landscape and society. Throughout her artistic practice, she explores repetition and the poetics of the mundane.

She has participated in many group exhibitions including in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Finland. She was an artist-in-residence at Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia, for a month in July 2015. She lives and works in Songkhla, Thailand.

Kide Baharudin(b. 1990, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia) studied graphic design and digital media at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Terengganu, and graphic design at UiTM Bandaraya Melaka.

A full-time artist and painter since 2015, he is recognised for his depictions of local and everyday kampung (village) life across different generations, exploring the relationships between human characters, and their local culture and history. His paintings and mixed-media works feature elements of pop culture and the social dynamics of his homeland. He is particularly drawn to the traditions of the Malay, Chinese and Indian communities in Malaysia, as well as the charming aesthetics of kampung houses and the lifestyle they represent.

He was the Winner of Vans Custom Culture Asia (2017). He held his first solo exhibition, Pe’el, at Tun Perak Co-Op, Kuala Lumpur, in 2020. He was artist-in-residence at SALTBOX in Cherating, Pahang, a Creative Residency Program by Iramalog, supported by Vans Malaysia (2023–2024). He lives and works in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan.

Kim Ng(b. 1965, Kluang, Johor, Malaysia) studied fine art at Kuala Lumpur College of Art and later London Guildhall University. He went on to gain his master’s in design and media arts from the University of Westminster in 1997, and an MA by Project from London Metropolitan University in 2002. That year, he returned to Malaysia, staying in Ipoh, Perak.

He has honed his skills in multidisciplinary art as a practising artist and educator through the past thirty years, working across printmaking, sculpture, ceramics and mixed media painting.

He has held eight solo exhibitions and participated regularly in group exhibitions locally in the UK and Malaysia. In 2022, he showed work in Pera Flora + Fauna, a collateral event of the 59th Venice Biennale. He has also been involved in international art workshops and artist residencies in Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia, including Rimbun Dahan in 2020. He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, where is Head of Fine Art at Dasein Academy of Art.

Kow Leong Kiang (b. 1970, Petaling Jaya, Selangor) studied fine art at Kuala Lumpur College Of Art, graduating in 1991.

A full-time painter, he first came to be known for capturing the pathos and nostalgia of the East Coast of the Malaysian peninsula. His work with the figure and portraiture has extended into a range of different painterly approaches, both technical and in terms of subject matter and its conceptualisation.

He was the first Malaysian artist to receive the Grand Prize at the Philip Morris ASEAN Art Awards in 1998. He has held residencies at Vermont Studio Centre (Freeman Foundation Asian Artists Fellowship, 2004), in Yogyakarta (Tembi Contemporary/Valentine Willie Fine Art, 2008), and Seoul and Jeju Island (Baik Art Residency, 2013). He has exhibited regularly in Malaysia, and shown work around Southeast Asia, East Asia, Europe and the USA. He lives and works in Puchong, Selangor.

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Latiff Mohidin(b. 1941 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan) studied at Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Berlin from 1960 to 1964, and later studied printmaking at Atelier Lacourière-Frélaut, Paris and Pratt Institute, New York in 1969.

He is a modernist painter, sculptor and poet. He first captured the regional imagination with the Pago-Pago series of the 1960s, the outcome of a “merantau” through Southeast Asia, and followed this over the next five decades with series of works exploring our relationship to nature’s forces and rhythms in a powerful, imaginative language of abstraction.

A retrospective exhibition Latiff Mohidin: Pago-Pago to Gelombang was presented by of the Singapore Art Museum in 1994. National Art Gallery Malaysia has held two retrospectives for the artist, in 1973 and 2012, and he has held solo exhibitions of new series at public institutions Galeri PETRONAS (Rimba, 1998; Voyage, 2009) and Bank Negara Museum and Gallery (Serangga, 2013). Between 2018 to 2020 a major exhibition of his work travelled to Centre Pompidou, Paris, ILHAM Gallery Kuala Lumpur, and National Gallery Singapore. He lives and works in Penang.

Liv Vinluan
(b. 1987, Manila, Philippines) was born into a family of artists and academics. She graduated cum laude from the College of Fine Arts at University of the Philippines, Diliman in 2009.

Currently, she splits her days between her art career, writing and curating for her fellow artists, building and designing domicile spaces, and running a small design firm, The Kumpuni Company, which she co-founded with her husband, artist Ian Jaucian. History remains the defining cornerstone of her work. She continues her investigations on death and mortality, the cyclicality of histories, the inconsistencies of human character and behaviour, and the passage of time.

In 2016, she was shortlisted for Ateneo Art Awards – Fernando Zóbel Prizes for Visual Art. She lives and works in the mountains of Antipolo, Philippines.

Luis Antonio Santos(b. 1985, Quezon City, Philippines) is a visual artist working primarily with painting and photography.

His practice revolves around the tension between contradictions and engages with themes relating to identity using time, space, and memory as points of departure. Oil painting, screenprinting, and digitally manipulated photography as aesthetic strategies are often employed along with the use of everyday utilitarian materials as subject matter to examine these ideas.

He ha exhibited in solo and group shows in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, Italy, Croatia, Hong Kong, Japan and USA. In 2023, he won an Ateneo Art Awards – Fernando Zóbel Prize for Visual Art, also receiving the Embassy of Italy Purchase Prize and CASA San Miguel Residency Grant. He lives and works in Quezon City, Philippines.

Luke Heng(b. 1987, Singapore) studied fine art at LASALLE College of the Arts/Goldsmiths, University of London, and graduated cum laude in 2013, returning to attain his master’s in 2020.

He works primarily within the confines of painting by deconstructing information drawn from the painter’s process, using painting as a supporting structure to examine the fluidity between dimensional spaces. In parallel, he explores concepts of interstitial spaces within the threshold.

He participated in the Dena Foundation Artist Residency Program, Centre des Récollets, France, supported by the National Arts Council of Singapore, in 2014, and Light Grey Iceland Residency in 2018. He has held solo exhibitions in Singapore, Paris and Kuala Lumpur. He is based in Singapore and works as an instructor at LASALLE College of the Arts.

Lyle Buencamino(b. 1978, Manila, Philippines) is a graduate of University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. His works usually involve using readily available images from the Internet and printed media to explore notions of originality and authorship. He ties together seemingly unrelated images to recontextualise them into different thematic narratives.

He has exhibited in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. In 2007, he was a recipient of the Ateneo Art Awards and a residency at La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia. He currently resides in Singapore.

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Maryanto(b. 1977, Jakarta, Indonesia) studied at the Faculty of Fine Art, Institut Seni Indonesia (1997–2005) and completed a residency at Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2013.

An accomplished printmaker in his early career, he creates powerful monochromatic paintings and monumental installations that dissect socio-political structures through the depiction of landscapes. His works investigate the impact of technological development, industrialisation, pollution, and resource exploitation on the natural world, reflecting the harsh realities in his home country. Through fable-like and theatrical settings, his landscapes present deeply urgent concerns around the encroachment of the environment, both physical and cultural.

He has held solo exhibitions in Indonesia, Singapore, and the Netherlands. He has participated in local and international exhibitions including Aqua Paradiso (Asia Culture Centre, Gwangju, 2022), Pollination: Of Hunters & Gatherers (MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiangmai, 2021); 900 mdpl Ghosts of a Thousand Conversations (Kaliurang, Indonesia, 2019), 2nd Industrial Biennale (Labin, Croatia, 2018), Setouchi Triennale, Naoshima (2016); Jakarta Biennale (2015), Jogja Biennale (2015), made in commons (Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, 2013), and 5th Moscow Biennale (2013). He has participated in residency and laboratory programmes in Brazil, Nigeria, South Korea, and the Netherlands. He lives and works in Yogyakarta.

Melissa Tan(b. 1989, Singapore) studied fine art at LASALLE College of The Arts, graduating in 2011.

Her interest lies in a fascination with nature and composing different methods of mapping it. Her recent projects explore the poetics of moving space objects and rethinking of myths that are intertwined. By employing a combination of drawing, digital rendering, and laser-cut methods, she explores her concepts through the visual language of different mediums.

She has held solo exhibitions in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and participates regularly in group shows and art fairs in Singapore and around the Southeast Asian region. In 2016, she took part in Singapore Biennale: An Atlas of Mirrors. She was awarded Singapore’s Young Artist Award (YAA) in 2023. An active member of the art community, she has mentored and hosted internships, and is advisor to Haridas Contemporary. She lives and works in Singapore.

Minstrel Kuik(b. 1976, Pantai Remis, Perak, Malaysia) left her hometown at the age of 18 to study art at National Taiwan Normal University, and graduated with an MFA from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie Arles in 2006, before moving back to Malaysia.

She works across a range of mediums, including photography, drawing, poetry, textile, mixed-media assemblage and installation, with a focus on women’s writing (Écriture féminine). With her multilingual education, the access to different cultures has come amid the first awareness about the politics of place, gender and identity, to which her migratory body has to constantly conform and adapt. With a belief that the private space is the major battlefield of ideological, political and economic interests, she explores art as a historical trajectory where the personal mutation through the process of reading, thinking, making, revisiting and counterbalancing is traceable, and hopefully, reflective and transformative.

She has exhibited widely in Southeast Asia and overseas at institutions such as National Gallery Singapore, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Australia and ILHAM Gallery, Kuala Lumpur; and at FotoFest, Houston, Photoquai, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris and Lishui Biennial Photography Festival. She won the International Photographer Award at Higashikawa Photo Festival in 2013, and the UOB Painting of the Year Award (Malaysia) in 2014, participating in the UOB-Fukuoka Asian Art Museum’s Artists Residency Programme in 2016. She lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Mohd Kamhairul Izham(b. 1985, Maran, Pahang, Malaysia) studied fine art at IKIP, Pahang, and then at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam (majoring in painting), graduating in 2010.

He is a painter recognised for his masterful use of line drawing technique, which he is consistently developing and pushing in different directions. He works mainly in ink, acrylic colours and pen.

He held his first solo exhibition, Chronicles of Lines, at TAKSU Kuala Lumpur in 2012. He has participated in group exhibitions in Malaysia and art fairs around Asia. In 2013, he took part in the Red Gate Residency supported by Khazanah Residency Programme, and was among the artists selected for HOM Art Trans’ Young Guns Awards in 2016. He is currently a full time artist based in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

Mujahidin Nurrahman(b. 1982, Bandung, Indonesia) studied fine art (majoring in printmaking) at Institut Teknologi Bandung, graduating in 2007.

The themes of his artworks have undergone several transformations, from dreams to politics, spirituality and death, to a current interest in religion and violence. Mujahidin focuses on issues surrounding religion, particularly the world's perception towards Islam. He works with a broad range of media to execute his ideas, such as hand-cut paper, painting, video, photography and combinations of various objects.

He was a recipient of the Bandung Contemporary Art Awards in 2013. He was artist-in-residence at Centre Intermondes, La Rochelle (2015) and at FAIR: Fuwari no Mori International Artist in Residence (2015). He has exhibited regularly in Indonesia, and at art fairs around Asia. He lives and works in Bandung.

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Nadiah Bamadhaj(b. 1968, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia) studied at Canterbury School of Fine Arts, majoring in sculpture.

Her practice encompasses collaged drawings, sculptures, site-specific installations, digital videos and prints. With geographical ties to Malaysia, Indonesia, and New Zealand, in her work, personhood is understood as inextricably tied to notions of place. Deeply critical of the political and social machinery that drives communal direction, her practice has been shaped by a strong personal interest in political events and social phenomena that have formed or affected her identity and outlook. Earlier series address the state’s relationship to its constituents, particularly through constructions of architecture and monument, moving towards a focus on gender, history and hierarchy within Indonesian society over the past two decades.

She was a resident artist at Rimbun Dahan in 2000-2001, holding her first solo exhibition, 1965: Rebuilding its Monuments in 2001 at Galeri PETRONAS, Kuala Lumpur. She was a recipient of Nippon Foundation’s Asian Public Intellectual Fellowship grants in 2002 and 2004, developing research and work in Yogyakarta. International participations include among others Pause: Gwangju Biennale (2002), Biennale Yogya/Jogja Biennale (2005, 2009), Jakarta Biennale (2006, 2009, 2021), Guangzhou Triennale (2008), Singapore Biennale: Wonder (2008), Beyond the Self: Contemporary Portraiture from Asia (National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 2011), Welcome to the Jungle: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia from the Collection of Singapore Art Museum (Yokohama Museum of Art/Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, 2013), Bangkok Art Biennale: CHAOS: CALM (2022), NGV Triennial (2023) and Voice Against Reason (Museum MACAN, Jakarta, 2023–2024). She has been living and working in Yogyakarta since 2002. She was co-curator of ARTJOG 2023.

Najib Bamadhaj(b. 1987 in Muar, Johor, Malaysia) studied fine art (majoring in painting) at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, graduating in 2010. He is one of the founding members of the RUMPUN artist collective.

In the contemporary Malaysian art ecology, Najib Bamadhaj’s multi-faceted artistic practice is a reflection of the diverse society he inhabits. Najib’s mixed media artworks reflect his keen insights on and interests in Malaysian contemporary art history, where mixed media has been a strong force in propelling the new movement forward. Various mediums mix on his surfaces, including canvas, wood, paint, fabric, charcoal and print to create broad comments on the transformation Malaysia has undertaken in the 21st century. Bringing in whimsical or relatable imagery via animals, architectural icons or portraits has allowed him to capture the attention of a cross-section of audiences.

Several critical and social activities have furthered Najib’s profile in the local and regional art worlds. He has held four major solo exhibitions to date in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok. His works have been shown in several group shows and art fairs in Malaysia, Singapore, Jakarta, Taiwan, London, Paris and South Korea. He has won several awards including 2nd Place at Open Johor Art Competition, Johor Art Gallery (2009); 1st Prize (Mixed Media) at the Tanjong Heritage Art Competition and Nando’s Kicking-Off with Art competition (2010); and HOM Art Trans’ Young Guns Award (2013). He was artist-in-residence at Nah! Bali with G13 Gallery in Bali in 2013. He is founder of artist-run space and studio Ruang Bamadhaj and an art collector, and is based in Ara Damansara, Selangor, Malaysia.

Norberto Roldan (b. 1953, Roxas City, Philippines) graduated with a degree in BA Philosophy from St Pius X Seminary and took his BFA in Visual Communication from University of Santo Tomas. He founded Black Artists in Asia in 1986, a group with a socially and politically progressive practice. In 1990 he initiated VIVA EXCON (Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference), the longest running biennale in the Philippines, and in 2000, co-founded Green Papaya Art Projects, the longest-running independent multidisciplinary platform in the country.

His practice is rooted in social and political issues. His installations, assemblages and paintings of found objects, text fragments and found images address issues surrounding everyday life, history and collective memory. His artistic process engages with ways in which material objects are re-appropriated in another context.

He has been represented in several landmark surveys like No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia (Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, 2013), Between Declarations & Dreams: Art of Southeast Asia Since the 19th Century (National Gallery Singapore, 2015), SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now (National Art Centre /Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2017) and Passion and Procession: Art of the Philippines (Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2017). He lives and works in Roxas City.

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Olan Ventura(b. 1976, Manila, Philippines) studied fine art at University of the East, Manila in 1998.

Recognised for his hyperrealist portraiture and still-lifes, he works primarily with graphite, acrylics, and oils. His paintings reflect his interest in identity, technology, and popular culture, placing his subjects in spaces that border on the surreal through the juxtaposition of images.
He has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions in various galleries and art spaces in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. He received the Juror’s Choice Award at the 2005 Philippines Arts Award, and was awarded Most Outstanding Alumnus (Arts & Culture) in 2007 by University of the East, Manila. He lives and works in Manila.

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Pangrok Sulapis an art collective established in 2010 in Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia, comprising artists, curators, writers, researchers, activists, musicians, graphic designers, entrepreneur craftsmen and more. After learning woodcut printmaking from Marjinal in 2013, the medium has become the collective’s main tool in spreading social messages, through large-scale exhibition works as well as handmade merchandise for events.

The collective are strong advocates of the DIY concept, hence the slogan “Jangan Beli, Bikin Sendiri” (Don’t Buy, Do It Yourself). Along with their mission to strengthen the community through art, they have organised art exhibitions, projects and collaborations with multiple communities for the development of society, culture, the economy and education.

Pangrok Sulap’s works have been exhibited in galleries and biennales internationally. Participations include SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now (National Art Center/Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2017), Asian Art Biennial: Negotiating the Future (2017), 4th Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2018), 9th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (2018), Aichi Triennale: Taming Y/Our Passion (2019), Dhaka Art Summit (2020), Gwangju Biennale: soft and weak like water (2023), Thailand Biennale Chiang Rai: The Open World (2023), and World Classroom: Contemporary Art Through School Subjects (Mori Art Museum, 2023).

In 2019, they moved to Kota Kinabalu to strengthen their connection with the local art scene, establishing Ruang Tamu Ekosistem, a creative space for the community to access various dimensions of art. In 2024, they began SAMA-SAMA, a transcultural art residency programme, supported by The British Council.

Paul Nickson Atia(b. 1992, Sarawak, Malaysia) studied architecture at University of Malaya, graduating in 2014.

His main interest lies in exploring narratives and conceptual frameworks of architecture, art, culture and subjects of identity along with social and historical contexts. Spirituality, time, modularity, memory and desire are central to his practice in constructing and claiming meanings. His works delve deep into his personal relationship with Sarawak and his Bidayuh heritage, guided by the Bidayuh-Jagoi phrase “torun tana”, signifying forest and land. In his practice, he aims to spark critical conversations about the relationship between identity, history, and our sense of belonging in the world.

He has participated in exhibitions in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. He was artist-in-residence at Rimbun Dahan in 2022 and took part in Maybank Foundation’s Artist Fellowship Programme in 2023. He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, where he teaches design at Taylor’s College.

Phuan Thai Meng(b. 1974, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia) studied fine art at Malaysian Institute of Art and obtained an MFA in trans-disciplinary art at Taipei National University of Arts. He was a founding member of the now dormant multidisciplinary artist collective Rumah Air Panas.

He specialises in oil painting and multimedia installation, and engages in experimental projects and workshops. In his art, he offers a running commentary on the state of Malaysia and the absurdities of Malaysian politics. His recent works and research focus on re-examining the relationship between people and their “Place” within the context of changing social patterns and human habitats, while also re-imagining the possibilities of future social landscapes beyond existing frameworks.

He has participated in numerous group shows in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, UK, Germany and Pakistan, including the 7th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (2012–2013) and Welcome to the Jungle: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia from the Collection of Singapore Art Museum (Yokohama Museum of Art/Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, 2013). He was a recipient of the Philip Morris Malaysia ASEAN Art Award in 2000 and a finalist in the Sovereign Asian Art Prize in 2013. In 2018, he won the Silver Award in the Established Artist Category for UOB Painting of the Year (Malaysia). In 2020, he held a solo exhibition, Liminality: Route of Return at Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei. He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, where he teaches at Malaysian Institute of Art.

Putu Sutawijaya(b. 1970, Tabanan, Bali, Indonesia) studied at Institut Seni Indonesia, graduating in 1998. He has worked as a professional artist since the late 1990s, making art and painting projects in a naive contemporary style.

He has held solo exhibitions in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Bali, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Chicago and Kuala Lumpur, and participated regularly in group shows in Indonesia and around Asia. In 2000, he received the Lempad Prize from Sanggar Dewata Indonesia. He has taken part in residencies at Der Kulturen Museum, Basel (2001), and at Gudang (2006) and Patisatu Studio (2007) in Malaysia (with Valentine Willie Fine Art). In 2007 he founded Sangkring Art Space in Yogyakarta. He lives and works in Yogyakarta.

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Romulo Olazo(b. 1936, Balayan, Batangas, Philippines, d. 2015) studied Fine Arts at University of Santo Tomas. In the 1960s, he pursued a career in graphic design after college, eventually becoming the Creative Director of an advertising agency. He left the corporate world at age 40 to pursue a full-time career in visual art.

He was largely a self-taught artist, with art occupying his life. As a working student, he was a comic book illustrator and took on jobs painting huge billboards. Even as an employee, he participated in art competitions and explored various media to enhance his skills. Becoming part of the Saturday Group, he interacted with known Filipino artists such as H.R. Ocampo, Vicente Manansala and Cesar Legaspi. He encouraged younger and novice artists, and briefly taught printmaking at the high school where his children studied, inspiring some students to become art teachers or artists themselves.

He was a recipient of the 13 Artists Award from the Cultural Centre of the Philippines in 1972, and held over 40 solo exhibitions through his career, mostly in Manila, but also in Taipei, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. His prints and paintings were regularly included in local and international group exhibitions, including the XII Biennial de Sao Paolo (1973), 11th International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo (1979), where he won an honorable mention, VI Biennial International de Arte, Valparaiso (1983) and 2nd Asian Art Biennial, Bangladesh (1983). In 1980 he started 101 Workshop for printmakers in the Philippines. In 2009, the Ayala Museum presented a 40-year retrospective of his works.

Ronald Ventura(b. 1973, Manila, Philippines) studied fine art (majoring in painting) at University of Santo Tomas.

A versatile artist, he works across painting, sculpture and installation art. His intricately layered paintings and multimedia artworks often intertwine with historically laden symbols with pop culture signifiers, creating rich imaginative compositions that act as a metaphor for the multifaceted national identity of the Philippines.

Early in his career, he received the Artist of the Year prize from Art Manila in 2001, the 13 Artists Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2003 and the Ateneo Art Awards-Fernando Zóbel Prize for Visual Art in 2005, as well as a Gallery Studio Residency Grant in Sydney. In 2012, he was a resident artist at Singapore Tyler Print Institute. Major solo exhibitions of his work have been held at NUS Museum, Singapore (2008), Museo delle Culture, Lugano (2014), Ayala Museum, Manila (2015) and Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (2016). He has also taken part in the Prague Biennale (2009) and Nanjing Biennial (2010). He lives and works in Manila.

Ruben Pang(b. 1990, Singapore) studied fine art at LASALLE College of the Arts.

His artistic process focuses on automatism, the neurosis and drama of the human condition. Beginning with painting, his practice has also led him to explore the dynamism and spontaneity of ceramic sculpture and the sensitivities and collaborative spirit of music production and performance.

He resists binaries in genres such as abstraction and figuration and embraces both experimental and traditional approaches, often combining both within the same painting.

Using a combination of oils, alkyds and acrylics he paints, scratches and erases his paintings using brushes, hands, palette knives and sandpaper, revealing layers of colour that reflect projections of his psyche. He prefers aluminium panels, as its rigidity reflects and captures the nuances of each moment and gesture, therefore allowing for greater freedom to transform the image as it develops.

He has held solo exhibitions in Singapore, Switzerland, Indonesia, Australia, Israel and Italy. He has taken part in the Stelva Artist in Residence Program (2014, Desenzano del Garda) and START International Artist Residency Program (2015, Tel Aviv-Yafo). He lives and works in Sardinia, Italy.

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Sabri Idrus (b. 1971, Kedah, Malaysia) studied fine art at Institut Teknologi MARA (now UiTM), and earned his MFA in Creative Practice from Transart Institute, Plymouth University, United Kingdom (2017).

His belief in art making, especially with regard to painting, is that the process is inherently social in nature, submerging him in a dialogue of experimentation towards technical and material advancement. He has been exhibiting since the early 1990s and his portfolio ranges not only from paintings, but also publication and graphic design,multimedia and video production, installation and sculpture.

He has received numerous awards, such as in the Painting category of National Art Gallery Malaysia’s Young Contemporaries (2004), a Juror’s Award at Malaysian Open Show (2014), Transart Social Change Award of the Transart Institute (2015–2017), and the 2020 UOB Painting of the Year Award (Malaysia). He has held multiple international solo shows in New York, Singapore, Bandung, and Kuala Lumpur. His work has also been featured in institutions, such as National Art Gallery Malaysia, ArtScience Museum, Singapore, Gyeongju Arts Center, South Korea (2019) and Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (2023). He has held art residencies in Japan, South Korea, New York, Berlin, Indonesia, Poland and Malaysia (including Rimbun Dahan in 2013–2014). He lives and works in Simpang Empat, Kedah.

Saiful Razman (b. 1980, Teluk Intan, Perak, Malaysia) studied fine art (majoring in painting) at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, graduating in 2003.

He is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice has expanded from abstract oil painting and pop-inspired collage to include video and video-based installation. In his work, he often makes use of ordinary and disposable everyday objects such as medical gauze and tissue paper, manipulating and reinforcing them to construct collages on canvas while retaining the materials’ physical features.

His works have been exhibited in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Lebanon and Bangladesh. He was artist-in-residence at Rimbun Dahan in 2004–2005, at Facebook HQ Singapore, and at Sharjah Art Foundation (ASEAN Artists Residency Programme, UAE). In 2022, he was selected to participate in Pera Flora + Fauna, a collateral event of the 59th Venice Biennale. Other exhibitions include the 1st KL Biennale: Alami Belas Beloved (National Art Gallery, 2017), The Unreal Deal: Six Decades of Malaysian Abstract Art (Bank Negara Museum and Gallery, 2017), 18th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh (Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka, 2018) and Tugu Atas Bukit (solo presentation, National Art Gallery, 2022). He received the 2021 United Overseas Bank (UOB) Painting of the Year (Malaysia) and (UOB) Southeast Asia Painting of the Year award. He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Samsudin Wahab (b. 1984, Semanggol, Perak, Malaysia) studied fine art at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, graduating in 2007. As well as being an artist, he is co-founder of printmaking collectives Chetak 12 and Studio Tikus.

His practice ranges across printmaking, painting, sculpture, performance, video and installation, sometimes in response to media coverage of political events, also drawing on his childhood experience, often mixing reported reality with his vivid imagination.

In 2009, he was one of the winners of the Malaysian Emerging Artist (MEA) Art Awards. He won a Jury Award at National Art Gallery Malaysia’s Young Contemporaries in 2013 and 2014, and the Major Award in 2019. He has held residencies at Rimbun Dahan (2009) and in Mumbai (Khazanah Residency Programme, 2010). His works have been exhibited at international platforms such as Selasar Sunaryo, Bandung, Bangkok Art & Cultural Centre, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum and Kuandu Biennale (2016). He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

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Tan Wei Kheng(b. 1970, Marudi, Sarawak) is a self-taught artist. Originally a ceramist for a commercial outlet producing tourist objects, he became drawn to the stories, symbolism and traditional knowledge of Sarawak’s interior peoples. He travels regularly into the dense interior of Sarawak where he spends time with friends from the tribes of the Orang Ulu (People of the Interior) such as the Kayan, Kenyah, Penan, Kelabit and Iban. His paintings depict them, their stories and their concerns.

He has held solo exhibitions around Sarawak, and in Kuala Lumpur, Brunei, Zurich and Singapore, and participated in numerous local and international group exhibitions, including the 1st KL Biennale: Alami Belas Beloved (2017), 6th Beijing International Art Biennale (2015) and Singapore Biennale: If the World Changed (2013). He lives and works in Miri, Sarawak.

Tan Zi Hao(b. 1989, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) holds a PhD in Southeast Asian Studies from National University of Singapore. He is an artist, writer, researcher and educator.

His works have covered a wide range of subjects from translingual practices, imaginary creatures, to posthuman entanglements. Dwelling on issues of ontological insecurity, his works present a deep investigation about what it means to be singular-plural in an age of global and ecological interdependence.

His works have been exhibited both locally and internationally on platforms such as Singapore Biennale: An Atlas of Mirrors (2016), Asian Art Biennial: Phantasmopolis (2021), and Kathmandu Triennale (2022). He currently lives and works in the Klang Valley, Malaysia.

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W. Rajaie (b. 1997, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) studied fine art and technology at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, graduating with a master’s in 2022.

He is known for his bold and distinctive use of materials that dynamically incorporates both natural and industrial elements, ranging from soil and cow dung to tar and industrial waste. His engagement with these materials transcends mere artistic expression, elevating it to an epistemological and ontological exploration of reality's complexities. His artistic vision serves as a gesture that navigates the paradox and ambiguity of truth within reality. In his multifaceted journey as an artist, he persistently attempts to redefine artistic boundaries, guiding observers into a realm where materiality seamlessly intertwines with philosophical exploration.

He has participated in several group exhibitions in Malaysia, including Holes, a three-man show at the Back Room, Kuala Lumpur in 2023. He is artistic director of Rumah Batas, a new creative establishment committed to conscious living and dynamic house practice. He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Wong Hoy Cheong(b. 1960, Penang, Malaysia) studied critical theory and literature, developmental psychology and education, and visual arts at Brandeis University, Harvard University and University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In the 1990s–2000s, he taught at Kolej Bandar Utama, Malaysian Institute of Art and Centre for Advanced Design in Kuala Lumpur.

As an artist, he works in a range of visual media including photography, video, drawing, and installation. His work often engages with communities and explores the retrieval of marginalised narratives; addresses the intersections of authenticity and indigeneity, migration and globalisation, and the slipperiness that lies between fact and fiction, past and present.

International participations include the 2nd Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (1996), Art in Southeast Asia: Glimpses into the Future (Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1997), Cities on the Move (touring, 1997–1999), Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial (1999, 2009), Venice Biennale (2003), 3rd Liverpool Biennial (2004), 2nd Guangzhou Triennial (2005), 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007), 6th Taipei Biennial (2008), 10th Lyon Biennale (2009), 3rd Ural Biennial (2015), SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now (National Art Center/Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2017), 4th Folkestone Triennial (2017, 2021) and 21st Biennale of Sydney (2018). He has held solo exhibitions/projects at institutions such as Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool (2002), John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (2003), Kunsthalle, Vienna (2003), Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (2004), National Art Gallery Malaysia (1996, 2004) and NUS Museum, Singapore (2008). In 2011 he was awarded the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Creative Fellowship. He lives and works in Penang.

Wong Perng Fey(b. 1974, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) studied at Malaysian Institute of Art, graduating in 1998.

His gestural paintings of figures, nature and natural vistas fluctuate between abstraction and figuration with an acute sensitivity to colours, layers and textures. His works consist of a diverse subject matter, ranging from traditional landscape and portraiture to abstraction that exhibits his confident brush play. His works become more than a picture plane and are transformed from the documentation of actions and mistakes into a plane that records gestures and mental states.

He was artist-in-residence at Rimbun Dahan in 2002. He has held 18 solo exhibitions in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Jakarta, Singapore, Beijing and Hong Kong, and participated in numerous group exhibitions and art fairs around Asia. He lives and works in Austria.

Y

Yee I-Lann(b. 1971, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia) studied visual arts at University of South Australia, graduating in 1992. From 1994 to 2017, she was based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, working in art department in the film industry (until 2014) alongside her art practice.

Straddling the South China Sea, and with a longstanding interest in the Southeast Asian region and its global connectivities, her practice as an artist has cut across photomedia, text, textile, site-specific installation, and video, drawing on a broad range of knowledges and material. She has since 2018 been making collaborative works with Dusun Murut weavers in Keningau, Bajau Sama DiLaut weavers on Pulau Omadal in Semporna, and other Sabah-based arts practitioners in conversation with other projects.

International participations include the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (1999, 2021); Jakarta Biennale (2015); Yinchuan Biennale (2016); SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now (National Art Center/Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2017); Asian Art Biennial: The Strangers from Beyond the Sea (2019); Aqua Paradiso, Asia Culture Centre, Gwangju (2022), STILL ALIVE: Aichi Triennale (2022); 17th Istanbul Biennial (2022); soft and weak like water: Gwangju Biennale (2023); Bangkok Art Biennale: CHAOS: CALM (2023); NGV Triennial (2023); World Classroom at Mori Art Museum (2023) and Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art at the Barbican, London (2024). She has held solo exhibitions at institutions such as Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (2011), Ayala Museum, Manila (2016) and Centre for Heritage, Art and Textiles (2021). She lives and works in Kota Kinabalu, where she is a co-founding partner of Kota-K Art Gallery.

Yeoh Choo Kuan(b. 1988, Kelantan, Malaysia) studied fine art at Dasein Academy of Art.

His practice articulates the tension between a spiritual élan and the magnetism of desire, violence and the flesh. The natural landscape and the overload of information are extremes of a spectrum he embraces and represents in all its contradictions. With abstract painting as a foundation, he has more recently transcended into the conceptual realm of installation. His explorations of different artistic domains meet a sheer enjoyment of textures, mark making, and disintegration of the pictorial matter. The biographical, psychological and emotional element is always his point of departure, leading into visual reflections on our shared socio-political realm.

He has participated in several residencies including HOM Residency (2012), SAGER Residency with HOM Art Trans, Kuala Lumpur, Suria Perahu Art Connection, Indonesia and Orange Gallery, Philippines (2013), Rimbun Dahan (2015), Red Gate Residency, Beijing (2017) and Acme Studio, London (2022) supported by Khazanah Residency Programme. He has held solo exhibitions in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Singapore, and exhibited widely in art fairs and group exhibitions in Malaysia and around Asia, including institutional shows at National Art Gallery Malaysia, Bank Negara Museum and Art Gallery and ILHAM Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, and The Art Centre, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Yim Yen Sum(b. 1987, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) studied fine art at Dasein Academy of Art, graduating in 2008.

She predominantly works with textiles when creating her ever-evolving installations and explores the concepts of relationships and interconnectivity between us as a society, our practices and interactions with our environment. Her work invites the audience to consider their own connections with those within their vicinity, and through viewing and interacting with her pieces, aims to build new relationships. They reﬂect hours of delicate needlework, sewn through units of gauze that have undergone a process of manipulation, including editing with Photoshop, dyeing, stitching, and embroidery.

In 2014, she won a Jury Prize at National Art Gallery Malaysia’s Young Contemporaries and in 2016 received the UOB Painting of The Year Award (Malaysia), participating in the UOB-Fukuoka Asian Art Museum’s Artists Residency Programme in 2017. She also held a residency with Leipzig International Art Programme in 2022. She has participated in exhibitions locally and internationally, including the 1st KL Biennale: Alami Belas Be Loved (2017), Trace of the city (Hakata) – The people I met, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (2017) and Jogja Biennale #5 (2019). She currently lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Yunizar(b. 1971, Tawali, West Sumatra, Indonesia) studied fine art at Institut Seni Indonesia, and is a co-founder and member of Kelompok Seni Rupa Jendela (Jendela Art Group).

He established his artistic career in the late 1990s, during the fall of Suharto. From early on, however, his work has resisted the noise and didacticism of political art, focusing instead on the richness of the everyday. From falling fruits to mad dogs to anonymous, alienated people, his subjects may be mundane but his paintings are filled with emotional tension and a plethora of meaning. In subverting conventional notions of beauty, ultimately, he is determined to capture not his subjects’ naturalistic forms but rather, their feeling and essence, or rasa.

He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand and Singapore, including Coretan, a solo exhibition at the National University of Singapore Museum in 2007 and Jogja Pyschedelia at Galeri Soemardja, Institut Teknologi Bandung in 2010. In 2012, he co-founded Yogya Art Lab, a bronze foundry and production house for experimentation and collaboration open to Southeast Asian artists. He lives and works in Yogyakarta.

Z

Zac Lee(b. 1968, Johor, Malaysia) studied fine art at Kuala Lumpur College of Art (1990) and illustration at The One Academy of Design (1993).

His works often deal with themes of self and societal reflection, focusing on his understanding of historical events and the social commentary surrounding geopolitical shifts in Malaysia. Forms and abstract objects appear as metaphors for individuals and communities, and when combined with his use of shadow play, there is a sense of something suppressed that lies in the shade for the viewers to contemplate. Trained in Chinese calligraphy and traditional painting, he began to develop his experimental approach by incorporating contemporary techniques such as digital imaging, photography and oil painting into his practice.

He received an Asian Artists Fellowship from Freeman Foundation, Vermont Studio Centre in 2006 and was selected for the Three Shadows Residency in Beijing in 2010. In 2020, he won the Silver Award in the Established Artist Category for UOB Painting of the Year (Malaysia). He has been participating in local and international exhibitions since 2006. He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, and is a senior lecturer at Dasein Academy of Art, Kuala Lumpur.

Zelin Seah(b. 1980, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) studied illustration at The One Academy (2002) and fine art at University of Central England (now Birmingham City University), graduating in 2007.

Having an appreciation of the aesthetic of the unseen, his base process places emphasis on the negative space often missed by the eye. Often site-related, his works deal with the limitations of physical space and the possible room for imagination. His practice spans from site-specific spatial installations to diverse materials such as aluminium, copper, and rattan, as well as painting and drawing. Through the process of abstraction from their original sources, he emphasises the contextual significance of materials, blending historical reality with imaginative elements.

He has exhibited worldwide, including at The National Art Center Tokyo (2011) and Saatchi Gallery (2014). He has engaged in residency programs across Germany, Japan, and Southeast Asia, including HOM Residency (2011), SAGER Residency with HOM Art Trans, Kuala Lumpur, Project Space Pilipinas (2012), SAGER Perahu Art Connection, Indonesia (2013) and AIR_Frankfurt with Goethe-Institut and Lostgens, Basis e.V. Frankfurt (2017). In 2022, he won the UOB Painting of the Year Award (Malaysia). He lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, where he is a lecturer at The One Academy.

Professor Zulkifli Yusoff(b. 1962, Kedah, Malaysia) studied fine art at Institut Teknologi MARA (now UiTM) and later attained his MA from Manchester Polytechnic in 1992. He has previously lectured at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris.

Known for his versatile mixed media and installation works, he is a practising contemporary artist and academician. Enriching historical understanding through art is a conceptual hallmark of his practice. He consistently seeks ways through which his art might encourage interrogations of personal and collective histories among wider audiences.

He won the Major Award at National Art Gallery Malaysia’s Young Contemporaries in 1988 and 1989, and the Major Award at the 3rd Salon Malaysia (1992). He received the National Academic Award in the Visual Art Category in 2007. International participations include the 2nd Asian Art Exhibition (Club Med, Cherating, 1988), New Art From Southeast Asia (Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Hiroshima, 1992), 1st Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, 1993), Asian Art Today at Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art (1994), 47th Venice Biennale (collateral exhibition: Modernities And Memories: Recent Works From The Islamic World, 1997), and 58th Venice Biennale (Malaysia Pavilion: Holding Up a Mirror, 2019). He has held solo exhibitions at National Art Gallery Malaysia (2010), NUS Museum, Singapore (2011) and Galeri PETRONAS (2013). He lives and works in Shah Alam, Selangor.

Resources

Not Just In Black And WhiteCurator’s NoteArtworks in the Exhibition About the Artists Acknowledgements Resources

Sementara: Ahmad Zakii Anwar Memory’s Landscape About the Collection

Not Just In Black And White
Curator’s Note
Artworks in the Exhibition
About the Artists

Acknowledgements
Resources

Sementara: Ahmad Zakii Anwar
Memory’s Landscape

About the Collection