Secretly removed from a state-sponsored artshow Wednesday night, an artwork believed to be censored for profane connotations was lauded in the show's official catalogue as a multi-layered discussion on society.
According to the Bakat Muda Sezaman 2013 official catalogue, which features finalists in the premier art competition, the installation is "an excellent example of cultural studies in action".
The work by Izat Arif Saiful Bahri, titled 'Insert#', features a T-shirt silk-screened with the Arabic letters 'fa' and 'qof' hung on a hanger and rack. It originally started as a "practical joke".
"By wearing his art as a form of performance in several locations, and by placing his art in a gallery shop, Izat has turned 'action' into a lesson on the slippery nature of decoding cultural signs and visual language...
"Instead of relying on the deceivingly simple work as the sole provider of meaning, the attention is shifted to us the audience as active readers of signs and visual language," it reads.
The catalogue, published by the National Visual Arts Gallery (Balai Seni), notes that Izat's art discusses "the t-shirt wearing culture of young urban hipsters" as well as the "indiscriminate use of commercialized Jawi scripts on t-shirts".
Jawi refers to Bahasa Malaysia written in Arabic script.
"(Izat's work) can perhaps be taken as a reflection of ignorance, indifference and (the) insensitive attitude of certain Western-trained urban middle-class young Malay hispters towards their own culture and tradition," it said.
Sophisticated play on words
For juror Yap Sau Bin, Izat's work is a sophisticated play on two different languages which places the audience as part of the work.
'Fa' and 'qof', for readers of Jawi and Arabic do not spell a Malay or Arabic word, but the letters sound like an expletive in English, he said in his essay also published in the catalogue.
"It is a double entendre which seeks to be ambiguous, a nonsensical pseudo word yet expletive in another language, requiring a person who has access to both languages to read the alphabets and understand homophonic in another," Yap wrote.
Fellow jury member Nur Hanim Khairuddin, in her essay, agrees.
"Nothing spectacular" at first glance, she said the use of Arabic letters connote to spiritualism and the teachings of Islam while Jawi script nods to the "psyche and culture of the Malays".
She wrote that by using these letters next to each other, Izat "dismantles the supposed sacredness of the Arabic/Jawi script, thus shifting the Muslim public's contrived perception of it."
"We perhaps can contextualise this work within the wider narrative of Malaysian art, especially within the framework of the formation of its identity based on elements derived from Malay-Islamic culture.
"Perhaps the work also addresses the alienation and 'death' of Jawi writing in our society. Or on the other hand, we may place the work right in the middle of the present conflict over the 'kalimah Allah' issue," she wrote.
'Insert#' and Cheng Yen Pheng's 'alksnaabknuaunmo' wereremoved from the exhibition at Balai Seni in Kuala Lumpur without the jury's consent on the same day of the award ceremony on Feb 12.
The award ceremony was officiated by Tourism and Culture Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.
Bakat Muda Sezaman (Young Contemporaries) is an art competition founded in 1974. The 2013 exhibition runs at Balai Seni from Oct 20 to March 3.
According to the Bakat Muda Sezaman 2013 official catalogue, which features finalists in the premier art competition, the installation is "an excellent example of cultural studies in action".
The work by Izat Arif Saiful Bahri, titled 'Insert#', features a T-shirt silk-screened with the Arabic letters 'fa' and 'qof' hung on a hanger and rack. It originally started as a "practical joke".
"By wearing his art as a form of performance in several locations, and by placing his art in a gallery shop, Izat has turned 'action' into a lesson on the slippery nature of decoding cultural signs and visual language...
"Instead of relying on the deceivingly simple work as the sole provider of meaning, the attention is shifted to us the audience as active readers of signs and visual language," it reads.
The catalogue, published by the National Visual Arts Gallery (Balai Seni), notes that Izat's art discusses "the t-shirt wearing culture of young urban hipsters" as well as the "indiscriminate use of commercialized Jawi scripts on t-shirts".
Jawi refers to Bahasa Malaysia written in Arabic script.
"(Izat's work) can perhaps be taken as a reflection of ignorance, indifference and (the) insensitive attitude of certain Western-trained urban middle-class young Malay hispters towards their own culture and tradition," it said.
Sophisticated play on words
For juror Yap Sau Bin, Izat's work is a sophisticated play on two different languages which places the audience as part of the work.
'Fa' and 'qof', for readers of Jawi and Arabic do not spell a Malay or Arabic word, but the letters sound like an expletive in English, he said in his essay also published in the catalogue.
"It is a double entendre which seeks to be ambiguous, a nonsensical pseudo word yet expletive in another language, requiring a person who has access to both languages to read the alphabets and understand homophonic in another," Yap wrote.
Fellow jury member Nur Hanim Khairuddin, in her essay, agrees.
"Nothing spectacular" at first glance, she said the use of Arabic letters connote to spiritualism and the teachings of Islam while Jawi script nods to the "psyche and culture of the Malays".
She wrote that by using these letters next to each other, Izat "dismantles the supposed sacredness of the Arabic/Jawi script, thus shifting the Muslim public's contrived perception of it."
"We perhaps can contextualise this work within the wider narrative of Malaysian art, especially within the framework of the formation of its identity based on elements derived from Malay-Islamic culture.
"Perhaps the work also addresses the alienation and 'death' of Jawi writing in our society. Or on the other hand, we may place the work right in the middle of the present conflict over the 'kalimah Allah' issue," she wrote.
'Insert#' and Cheng Yen Pheng's 'alksnaabknuaunmo' wereremoved from the exhibition at Balai Seni in Kuala Lumpur without the jury's consent on the same day of the award ceremony on Feb 12.
The award ceremony was officiated by Tourism and Culture Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.
Bakat Muda Sezaman (Young Contemporaries) is an art competition founded in 1974. The 2013 exhibition runs at Balai Seni from Oct 20 to March 3.
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