Sekaki: My Sculptures at Segaris

Yesterday, I went to the "Sekaki" exhibition organised by Segaris Art Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Three of my sculptures are there as part of the group exhibition that includes artists like Mad Anuar Ismail, Tajuddin Ismail, Tengku Sabri, Mastura Abdul Rahman, and Abdul Mansor Ibrahim.

The art gallery had invited ex-ITM students to take part in the exhibition some months before. The only brief given was that the submitted works should not exceed the size of one foot in height, width and length.

It was quite a challenge to work within the confines of the size.

Initially, I thought of sending a painting. But during that time when the invitation arrived, I was also playing around with some ideas on the wood that I was collecting at my studio. Finally, I decided that it would be nice to submit something different, i.e. my sculptures.

I had been collecting discarded timber found along rivers and roads for some years now. Whenever I saw some felled tree by the road side, my immediate instinct was to stop and lug them back to my house. But constraints in space (both in my car and at home) restricted me somewhat.

Though small, the collection of wood I have at my studio is sentimental to me -- each piece reminds me of a particular time and place, its origins and the stories surrounding its acquisition. They lie about at my studio just waiting to be transformed. It's not easy ignoring them! I feel like they are calling out to me to make something of them one day. Somehow their energy still leaks out of their dormant state, feeding my imagination, sparking ideas to reconstruct them into new forms.

Anyway, it was nice to meet some old friends again during the launch of the exhibition -- some I remember their names, some I don't, forgive me. Rafiee Ghani, Jai, Baha, Ramlan Abdullah, and my lecturer Rozaika Umar Basaree...these are some of the ones I remembered.

The three pieces submitted for "Sekaki" are Tweet, Mother and Child and Oink! They are "creatures" that represent characters found in current society.

The exhibition is currently on-going until 11 February at Segaris Art Centre, Publika Shopping Gallery, Kuala Lumpur.