Conceptually inspired by the literary format of the epistolary novel—a novel written as a series of documents, such as letters, diary entries, and news clipping—that blends different voices and perspectives to build a composite reality, EPISTOLARISTICS is a visual arts exhibition that explores the textured complexities of indigenous narratives, and how it could be read as an assemblage of diverse interests and histories.
Speculating on the process of becoming and being, this exhibition problematises the definition of an Indigeneity and its inadequacy in favour of indigeneities constituted and defined by a multitude of voices and diverse backgrounds, rather than a prescribed set of dogmas and descriptions often imposed on indigenous communities. In adopting this framework of plurality, this exhibition acknowledges that the contemporary Malaysian indigenous experience cannot be contained by the tropes and archetypes that reduce the Orang Asal community to just peripheral and marginalised populations in need of charity, and instead centres the rich cosmologies and lifeworlds of indigenous cultures as experienced and interpreted by the artists to explore a future of trust, celebrations, and solidarities.
30 APR 2022 – 5 JUN 2022 / GMBB, Kuala Lumpur / Open daily from 11am to 6pm
Centre for Urban Mythologies 