Shooshie Sulaiman：Sulaiman itu Melayu (Sulaiman was Malay)
Events
Published: October 07 2013
Text by Melanie Pocock For her first solo presentation, Shooshie Sulaiman poignantly reflects on notions of identity. Referencing her late father, Sulaiman itu Melayu explores how distinctly 'Southeast Asian' and 'Malay' cultures are constructed and perceived, through drawing, collage and site-specific installations. By activating and deconstructing the processes through which cultural categories are formed, the works in the exhibition not only challenge the idea of inherent identities, but the artist's own assumptions about her personal history. Characteristic of her open-ended approach, Sulaiman itu Melayu aligns the complexities of life with those of art - as one, holistic quandary. For the exhibition, Shooshie has combined soil from her father’s grave and the ash remains of her drawings and Rumah (2002-8), her former studio and situation piece. In this work, Shooshie repositions the acts of post-production related toRumah (it was last shown as part of Rumah Sulaiman di belakang Kedai Ah Guat at the Singapore Biennale in 2011) to a kind of ‘post-process’, overlapping values of the subject and the body within the same material. Specially conceived for Tomio Koyama Gallery, Singapore, Sulaiman bought a home is a replica of the house that her father first bought for his family. Etched with texts in Jawi from Surah Al-Fatihah, the passage from the Qur’an that is recited when somebody passes away, Sulaiman bought a home evokes the Malay Muslim family home as a site of peace and calm. Sulaiman was a rubber tapper comprises sheets made from milk extracted from the surviving rubber trees of Shooshie’s family home in Segamat, Johor, Malaysia. Through these works, she explores the relationship between humans and nature, performing ‘rituals of detachment’ from her father. Other works featured include Shooshie’s studies on Malaysian currency notes that date from the Japanese Occupation (1941-45) and collaged envelopes layered with images of Malays from the past. Containing subtle manipulations and interventions, these studies highlight their materials’ latent energies and issues in the making of cultural perception. As part of her presentation at Tomio Koyama Gallery, Singapore, Shooshie will be opening 12 Residence, a guesthouse in Malacca that invites residents to experience art in incidental and unexpected ways.
A fully-illustrated monograph on Shooshie’s work to date, edited by curator and writer Melanie Pocock, will be published during the exhibition. Titled Sulaiman, it includes contributions by Hammad Nasar, Head of Research and Programmes, Asia Art Archive, artist and former Director of Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, Universiti Sains Malaysia Hasnul J. Saidon and Russell Storer, Head of Asian and Pacific Art at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, among others.
［作家プロフィール］ Shooshie Sulaiman was born in 1973, Muar, Malaysia. Often drawing on her experience, emotions and memories, she makes works and situations that create highly nuanced and personal interactions with their subjects and audiences. After receiving her BA in Fine Art from the MARA University of Technology (UiTM) in 1996, she received the National Art Gallery of Malaysia’s prestigious Young Contemporaries Award, and has participated in numerous exhibitions and residencies in Malaysia and internationally. Previous group exhibitions include ‘Open House’, Singapore Biennale (2011), Asia-Pacific Triennial (2009-10), Documenta 12 (2007), Continuities: Contemporary Art of Malaysia At The Turn of The 21st Century, Guangdong Museum of Art and the Florence Biennale (2003). She currently lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she also runs 12, an exhibition and project space.Shooshie Sulaiman was born in 1973, Muar, Malaysia. Often drawing on her experience, emotions and memories, she makes works and situations that create highly nuanced and personal interactions with their subjects and audiences. After receiving her BA in Fine Art from the MARA University of Technology (UiTM) in 1996, she received the National Art Gallery of Malaysia’s prestigious Young Contemporaries Award, and has participated in numerous exhibitions and residencies in Malaysia and internationally. Previous group exhibitions include ‘Open House’, Singapore Biennale (2011), Asia-Pacific Triennial (2009-10), Documenta 12 (2007), Continuities: Contemporary Art of Malaysia At The Turn of The 21st Century, Guangdong Museum of Art and the Florence Biennale (2003). She currently lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she also runs 12, an exhibition and project space.
