Notes for Malaysian Creative Professionals
Building Digital Experiences for the Arts & Culture,
and the Creative Economy in Malaysia.
Artist Portfolio
Education: Self-Taught
Being a self-taught artist has encouraged me to constantly develop my knowledge about the arts and its industry. I have learnt a lot from watching online videos and reading, but my most valuable learning experience came from my solo backpacking trips in search of art and culture. I learnt art history across Europe and gathered inspiration in beautiful Brazil.
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In Europe, some of the museums I’ve had the privilege to visit were:
• Picasso Museum, Barcelona
• Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
• Reina Sofia, Madrid
• Casa Buonarotti, Museum of Michelangelo, Rome
• The Lourve, Paris
• Pompidou Centre, Málaga
• Museu de Arte (MASP), Sao Paulo
• Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo
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Exhibitions / Showcase
2017 Di Mana (You)ng, National Arts Gallery, Malaysia
Be Bold for Change, Adam&Eve DDB, UK
Global Movement of Arts, World Humanities Conference (UNESCO, CIPSH), Belgium
Rags to Riches (A Story of KL), Ruang, Malaysia
Freedom Film Fest, PJ Live Arts, Malaysia
Harapan Sentiasa Ada, Masjid Jamek LRT Tunnel (ThinkCity), Malaysia
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2016 Jelajah Kampus, Rakan Muda, Malaysia
Deepakalayam, Publika Mall, Malaysia
Conteng Lah, Masjid Jamek LRT Tunnel (ThinkCity), Malaysia
Featured Artist, Art Battle Brasil, Brazil
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Residencies
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Suatukala, Langkawi (Sept - Nov, 2017)
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Suatukala is a community development initiative that originated in Langkawi. As the resident artist from Sept-Nov 2017, I taught art to 80 children while working on personal art projects inspired by the community. I designed a programme that will use art as a storytelling tool, to help students from government schools to better express themselves. It helps the students to develop an understanding about the past and present, while thinking creatively for their future.
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Upcoming: Rimbun Dahan (March, 2018)
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Organising Community Art Events
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Besides being an artist myself, I’m passionate about running art related events in Malaysia. After being featured as an artist in Sao Paolo, Brazil, I brought the international ART BATTLE event down to Kuala Lumpur, the first of its kind in Asia.
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The event, held in a public space, allows people outside of the art community to feel welcome and even to participate, as they get a chance assess artists and their works, and even vote for the piece that they feel merits the prize. As a result, conversations about art happen spontaneously and unconsciously – why do they like a particular style/subject matter/execution method?
The idea was shortlisted for Pitchpad ASEAN during George Town Art Festival in 2016. Currently I’m planning for the fourth show in July, 2018.
Past Events:
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2017, Art Battle Malaysia 2, 3
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2016, Art Battle Malaysia 1
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2015, Doodle Mania (3 days) Mall of Medini
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2015, 20x6 feet long artwork - Art in The Park
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2014, Urbanscapes
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2014, Deepakalayam, Publika
Being the admin for Doodle Malaysia – Do You Doodle Facebook Group with 12,000 members online, was the stepping stone for me to get involved with the art community and learn to organize art events that encouraged audience interaction. The online community grew from zero to 11,000 members in the last 5 years and I’ve had the opportunity to run many community events led by social media to encourage public participation.
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Selected Biblography
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Lu Yin Wai, “10 Up-And-Coming Artists From Malaysia You Need To Know”, The Culture Trip, August 2017.
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Sharmilla Ganesan, “Malaysian artist reclaims the female body … by painting on it”, The Star, February 2017.
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Ellen Scott, “Powerful photo series fights back against the way we police women’s bodies”, Metro UK, February 2017.
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Yi Shu Ng, “Artist fights street harassment through photos depicting Goddesses”, Mashable, February 2017.
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Shareen Ho, “These 13 Malaysians Will Captivate You WithTheir Art”, SevenPie, March 2017.
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Lu Yin Wai, “Malaysian Artist Ruby Subramaniam Wants Women to Embrace Their Bodies”, The Culture Trip, December 2017.
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Geraldine Tong, “Thaipusam spray paint threat spawns 'painted goddesses’”, Malaysia Kini, February 2017.
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Editorial Team, “Light The Way”, Pamper.my, October 2017.
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Shalini Ravindran, “United in a unique kolam”, The Star, October 2016
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Ida Lim, “With Masjid Jamek LRT mural, domestic violence survivors show there’s always hope”, Yahoo News, March 2017.
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Aizuddin Norzaid, “12 Artists Battle it Out at The First Ever Art Battle Malaysia”, The Daily Seni, October 2016
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Ista Kyra, “The Hustling Artist”, Eksentrika, September 2016.
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Nevash Nair, “Deepavali Dynamism”, The Star, October 2014.
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