Abstract
In this conversation chapter, Malaysian artist Wong Hoy Cheong and curators Ahmad Mashadi and Shabbir Hussain Mustafa discuss their projects related to art and archives in the context of contemporary art in Malaysia. Ahmad has worked with various archives, including those of Mochtar Apin (1923–1994), Mustafa on the archive of Mohammad Din Mohammad (1955–2006), and Wong on Ismail Hashim (1940–2013). They introduce their projects and initiate a discussion on the complexities of working with artists’ estates with regard to curating and exhibition-making. The conversation examines the challenges and opportunities presented by archives and the institutional, ethical, and aesthetic considerations involved in their curation and exhibition.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Note from the editor: This chapter is republished from the book UNPACK REPACK A Tribute to Ismail Hashim (1940–2013), Fergana Art, Kuala Lumpur, 2014, with courtesy of Fergana Art (Publisher), Wong Hoy Cheong (Artist, Curator & Writer), Shabbir Hussain Mustafa (Curator), Ahmad Mashadi (Curator).
Ismail Hashim was born in 1940 in Ulu Sungai Ara, Penang. Described as an everyman’s photographer and chronicler, Hashim is known also as a master in the alternative medium and celebrated for his hand-tinted technique. He was the first Malaysian photographer-artist to be given a retrospective exhibition hosted by the Penang State Art Gallery from November 2 to 30 in 2010. The present conversation offers a context for an exhibition titled “UNPACK-REPACK: A Tribute to Ismail Hashim (1940–2013)”, which was presented by the Family of the late Ismail Hashim and Fergana Art. This exhibition features the works of the late Ismail Hashim at the Whiteaways Arcade, George Town, Penang, from 23 June to 31 August 2014 and then travelled to the National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, in February 2015. Curated by one of Malaysia’s most prominent artists/curators Wong Hoy Cheong, the exhibition takes the audience through five rooms of Ismail Hashim’s creative preoccupations drawn mainly from the archives/estate he left behind. It features known works selected by friends and colleagues, recontextualisations and readings of Ismail Hashim’s collection of negatives, contact prints and test prints as well as personal documents, writings and photographic equipment and materials from his studio. As the title suggests, this exhibition proposes to unpack and make transparent various trajectories of representation and presentation with the hope that the audience will come to their own understanding as they negotiate through the exhibition space, and encounter the interrelationships of the narratives. See more under https://invisiblephotographer.asia/2014/06/13/tributetoismailhashim/.
- 2.
Note from the editor: Mochtar Apin (1923–1994), an Indonesian painter, print maker and graphic artist, who was affiliated to Ries Mulder. He studied at the Technical Faculty, Universitas Indonesia in 1948, at the Kunstnijverheidsschool, the Netherlands, in 1951, and at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, in late 1953. He was a founding member of Gelanggang Seniman Muda (Arena of Independent Artists), the progressive art movement in Jakarta in 1946, dedicated to promote the modernity and freedom of art and culture.
- 3.
Note from the editor: Mohammad Din Mohammad (1955–2006), a Singaporean Malay painter, graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore, in 1976, majoring in Western painting. He is known for his expressive works of art inspired by Sufism. His paintings and sculptures are also heavily influenced by his lifelong practice as a Silat Guru, traditional healer and his travels across Southeast Asia.
References
Exhibition Archiving Apin: Works and Documents from the Mochtar Apin Collection, NUS Museum, Singapore, 2013.
Exhibition Archives & Desires: Selection from the Mohd Din. Mohd Collection, NUS Museum, Singapore, 2008.
Statement about Malaysia's multi—ethnicity scribbled by Ismail Hashimfound in his personal effects. Ismail Hashim Art Estate & Archive.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cheong, W.H., Mashadi, A., Mustafa, S.H. (2024). Encountering Incompleteness: Archives, Institutions and Exhibition-Making. In: Pan, L. (eds) The (Im)possibility of Art Archives. Contemporary East Asian Visual Cultures, Societies and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5898-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5898-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-99-5897-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-99-5898-6
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)