PAINTING MELANCHOLY and MEMORY in MASTURA ABDUL RAHMAN'S MALAYISM, Part 1
AN ESSAY on A MALAYSIAN ARTIST EXTRAORDINAIRE. On the occasion of her upcoming solo exhibition (July 2023 at the Publika, Kuala Lumpur)
Painting Melancholy and Memory in Mastura Abdul Rahman’s Malayism
by Azly Rahman
(Hingga kini saya sudah hampir 40 tahun mencatan. Tiada yang berubah kerana saya merasakan
saya harus meneruskan warisan serta memberi sumbangan dengan cara saya. Tiada pilihan
yang kedua. Insha Allah.)
Today, it has been forty years since I painted. Nothing has changed. Because I feel I must continue the tradition and contribute in my own way. There is no alternative to this, God Willing
- Mastura Abdul Rahman, artist’s statement
O' Malay essentially
what hath wrought and possess'd your consciousness?
How hath your education failed you?
How have you descended to the glorification of ignorance?
Is this not about helping the next generation to be more civil?
Do you know what knowledge is?
and what it is not?
O' Malays essentially
wake up
smell the fragrance of the chains around your neck
chains of your feudal past
chains of those who giveth salams to others
but grateful that the oppressed from the past
hath now become the oppressor
- Azly Rahman
Introduction: A departure
The above poem on the Malays of today will resonate with the tone of this essay. And with the artist’s statement.
I shall depart from the most often done or overdone analysis of Mastura Abdul Rahman’s paintings studied from an artistic production point of view (composition, colors, influences, themes, etc.) or from their interpretation of the iconic representation of “Malayness”. These I believe are acceptable from a layperson’s perspective and for the enjoyment of art critics, collectors, and connoisseurs. To me, the psychological, anthropological, and ideological production of her work can offer a more enriching reading of the work of one of Malaysia’s and Nusantara’s most famous women artists. What goes on in her mind and in her mind-in-society-and culture, and what is she painting against? These are my explorations in this essay as a layperson and not an” art critic.” I will take the hermeneutic approach, by letting me feel what she has produced and offer responses to the work she is exhibiting.
PART 2 next
