Ain (Malaysia, 2000) graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague (Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten) in 2022. She was born in Thailand, raised in Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan, leading her to have a diasporic identity and longing for belonging.
Her practice jumps from videos, audios, installations and collaboration-based works but her works are still focused on themes such as belonging, language, memories, national and cultural identity. Her works also reflect her interest in post-colonial discourses such as cultural preservation, exoticism, craftmanships and archives. She also questions the position and role of artists in decolonisation, with reference to Aimé Césaire, “Man of Culture” and how does one embrace a post-colonial history and reconstructs itself through culture and arts.
In her “Re-Learning” Workshop Project, she presented an ongoing collection of short animations which visually translates her mother tongue’s sayings and proverbs. The broken and confusing English text reflects the struggle she experienced when she speaks in her mother tongue. Prior to the making of the animations, she gradually noticed she was speaking in English with her mother while her mother speaks in Malay through their phone calls. She realises that she no longer think and visualises in Malay but in English in her mind. The gradual loss of her mother tongue and her desperation to reclaim her language and belonging is reflected even further through the work as the audio are her attempts to speak the sayings in Malay as natural as possible.
Ain is also very keen on collaborative works and have held several self-initiated group exhibitions. She takes the role of organising and coordinating materials, props and artworks, as well as ensuring the group is constantly communicating with each other.
Ain is currently focused on creating works where she could explore what does art and decolonisation means for post-colonial Southeast Asian countries as well as what modernisation of arts and globalisation means in these countries.
Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, Netherlands
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- Bachelors Fine Arts
- Graduated thesis: “A guest to their home country” focusing on the question can one feel like they are a guest to their origin in the context of identities of the post-colonial world in South East Asia.
Education
Group Exhibition, "⊥IWE" | Blank Canvas | Penang, Malaysia
Group Exhibition, "My Oma" | Kunstinstituut Melly | Rotterdam, Netherlands
Group Exhibition, "Als je me echt zou kennen…” (If you really knew me...") | de Appel | Amsterdam, Netherlands
Group Exhibition, "SBK Sprouts Young Talents 2022" | SBK Kunstuitleen & Galerie | Amsterdam, Netherlands
Group Exhibition, "iNbetweeN Identities" | GLO'ART | Lanaken, Belgium
Group Exhibition, "Best Graduates 2022" | Galerie Ron Mandos | Amsterdam, Netherlands
Group Exhibition, "As is, where is" | Atenor | The Hague, Netherlands
Group Exhibition, "In Between Commodities & Ornaments" | Bleinburg | The Hague, Netherlands
Solo Online Exhibition, as a part of Spectrum Space’s Relational Terms
Group Exhibition, "Fieldtrip" | Maakhaven | The Hague, Netherlands
Group Exhibition, "Happy Oriental Trading Co."| Gallery 4 | The Hague, Netherlands
Group Online Exhibition, Untitled Crit
Group Online Exhibition, "As real as you want"
Group Exhibition, "Mechanical Iron-E" | Annastate | The Hague, Netherlands
An illlustration of the "Re-Learning Workshop" project demonstrating Ain's current interests in her artistic practice.
Exhibitions
Nominations
- Nominated for "SBK Sprouts Young Talent 2022" at SBK Kunstuitleen & Galerie
- Nominated for "Best Graduate 2022" at Ron Mandos Gallery