Native Malay in Landscapes takes inspiration from the tradition of colonial photography. Where the colonial figure’s image taken against the backdrop of native people in exotic landscapes becomes a way of producing and possessing trophies of control. This series subverts the colonial gaze while holding a mirror to colonial discourses of power. Appropriating the language of colonial photography, the artist in his traditional Malay costume transplants the linen-clad Western figure with his pith helmet. Standing on the vistas of the now exoticised European landscape, the transposition of colonial and colonised questions the dynamics between east and west that persist today.
