Presented by The Back Room

This installation consists of what, in textile terms, are called a woven “billboard” (the longest work), a pair of woven “banners” (the medium-long works), and a pair of woven “postcards” (the smallest works), which all come together to make a woven assemblage collectively titled Nenek Moyang, which means “ancestor” in Malay.

The works are part of Kenyalang Circus, a series of colourful, fluorescent textile works made with industrial weaving machines by Marcos Kueh, a young graphic and textile artist from Malaysia who’s rapidly become an exciting name to watch. The series sees Kueh grappling with searing questions over his own identity as a Chinese-Malaysian from Borneo who currently lives among Europeans in The Netherlands. Many of the imagery in the series draws from Malaysian and Bornean imagery, coupled with the crude imagery of street advertisements, multinational brand logos, and fluorescent threads—satirising the way that the diverse cultures of Borneo are exoticised and misunderstood by Westerners and Peninsula Malaysians alike. 

These giant woven pieces announcing the arrival of Kenyalang Circus have travelled in different iterations and arrangements all around the world. Now in 2024, the Circus has finally come to Singapore. This installation was made possible through the kind support of Ron Mandos.