Artist Statement

"53300/220328" is a tool to reexamine different often opposing narratives overlaid on complex ever evolving entities such as Setapak. As a place the artist had called home since 2012, Setapak being among the oldest suburbs in KL offers a rich tapestry of history (Aborigine/ Minangkabau settlers, Selangor Civil War, Tin mining, Rubber Plantation, May 13 Racial Riots, etc) to complicate the viewer’s linear understanding of time and by extension, modernity and progress.

Various visual temporal data such as changes in traditions and material culture, rapid urban development, redefinitions of third spaces, changing demographics and deplacements were researched, recorded and collected by the artist in Setapak for over a decade. By layering loops, still images and videos into the same monochromatic image as it is experienced in the present, the artwork creates a new narration where each image can be seen as an individual entry point for the viewer. The overarching narrative dissonance between gloom (urban decay) and hope (social vibrancy and development) articulates the complex interconnected cultural, political and socio economic realities in contemporary urban areas and asks the viewer to ponder the true cost of ‘progress’.