Stories from Malaysia
Continued from Imagined Landscapes No more than four feet by four feet, it was filled to the brim with personal items. “It’s all junk. The house is leaking everywhere, so I put everything in here.” he explained. And true enough most of it did look like they hadn’t been touched or even looked at for …
A city is a built environment, a physical manifestation of our dreams, desires, insecurities, achievements and failings. It is inorganic, unnatural in every way, geared towards an ever-expanding capacity to consume, exploit and overwhelm everything to its very limits. It is only acceptable then that we do the same to ourselves. Kuala Lumpur, 31 October …
My first encounter with the residential complex had been accidental, stumbling upon it while tracing the Kerayong River from its source to confluence as part of a documentary project on Klang Valley's river network. The second visit was to photograph the area, and by the third visit, all the blocks had been demolished. The residents …
Kampung Tanjung, Kuala Terengganu The last time I was here, the house was shrouded in darkness. I could barely see the tail light of a motorcycle, streaking to a halt between the stilts. The house stood alone on an empty plot of land, or rather the land around the house had been cleared. I promised …
Reports of the impending Hagibis typhoon (October 12, 2019) reminded of when I was in Tokyo many years ago. I try to remember the scene. "Strong winds. A typhoon is expected to land in Tokyo tonight." said the woman inside the television, one of two objects didn't quite belong in a fancy jazz bar. The …
A forest has no history. It remembers no beginning, follows no moral, worships no God. Trees fall and sprout anew, rivers flood and dry out, animals kill and then they themselves die, all part of a perpetual state of unguided renewal. Churning itself anew for more than 130 million years, Taman Negara is a 4,343 …
Amanda Nell's latest short film Vinegar Baths just picked up the Next New Wave Award and Best Cinematography at the SeaShorts Film Festival 2019. This is a quick rundown of my notes as Director of Photography. Synopsis: A tired and overworked nurse at the maternity ward finds joy when she is alone roaming the hospital …
Download the complete work here (19mb) Review on Critics Republic by Bilqis Hijjas This photo essay is an experiment in writing a fictional history of Kluang when it was once an island. Through two sets of photographs (YESTERDAY and TODAY) viewers are taken through a journey to the past and present, exploring memories of two days …
When was it that I became aware of the colour of my skin? How different it shone in the sun (and the dark) than those around me? Or worse still, that it mattered at all. Was it when my mother asked in jest “What happened to you? You were born fair. All your relatives used …
For the past six months I've been working on developing a Virtual Reality(VR) multimedia project titled "Elders of Our Forest". The project uses photographs, film, text, sound, and interactivity to create an immersive experience of being deep within the Malaysian tropical rainforest. The first two components focused on the Royal Belum State Park and the …
