Klik hier voor Nederlands
The textile installations of Marcos Kueh (1995) are woven posters with images and texts in eye-catching colours. With a background in graphic design, Kueh uses graphic techniques to create his visually attractive imagery. In his ongoing series Kenyalang Circus, which includes the work Reconciliation (2024), he uses this advertising language to respond to the colonial past and post-colonial present of his native Malaysian Borneo.
In Reconciliation, Kueh more specifically explores his ambivalent feelings towards religion. The large woven poster in the centre of the installation appears to have been cut in two, with the two halves connected to each other by means of threads. This gesture symbolizes the inner conflict Kueh experiences whenever this theme is discussed. In Malaysia, as well as in numerous other places, European colonizers converted many people to Christianity. During his upbringing, Kueh often considered becoming a Christian, but started to wonder what that would entail. Was his motive to get nearer to God, or to become more like people from the West? And would it mean renouncing his own heritage?
‘People from the West often still have stereotypical an condescending views on the former colonies,’ Kueh explains. ‘I started to wonder what the best way would be to advertise my native country.’ This series not only serves as an ironic comment – using sculptures and masks to evoke stereotypical images of the exotic other –, but is also a genuine attempt to demand attention for his themes.
Text: Sarah van Binsbergen
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)