1 Meter Apart
Group Exhibition:-
Anisa Abdullah x Khairul Izham
Ali Bebit Azraie
Faizal Suhif
Firdaus Ismail
Haafiz Shahimi
Hirzaq Harris
Husin Othman
Jamil Zakaria
Mohd Al-Khuzairie Ali
Sabihis Md Pandi
Syafiq Hariz
12th June – 15th July 2020
*Click on images to zoom in
The year 2020 is a visionary year for Malaysia. A vision to achieve a developed nation status by this significant year was most highly anticipated by the people. However, year 2020 became a year that is plagued with the pandemic COVID-19 that affected close to 5 million people worldwide by mid May 2020.
In order to curb the spreading of this pandemic, Malaysia introduced MCO (Movement Control Order) a form of lockdown that restricts the herd movement of the people. Gatherings and meetings being one of the favourite activities has been reduced down to staying at home and not to be in contact with others. For the first time, Malaysia faced this unknown crisis with fear and uncertainty. The message of 1 meter social distancing between human interactions became a heavily emphasized broadcast to the people.
While Malaysians braced the changes to their lifestyle and living (economically and spiritually) to this “new normal”, it is still a huge dilemma and predicament on how far and wide the extent of the new normal affects the nation.
“Artistic minds have often been extremely good at envisaging the future.”
The above statement does ring a truth to it as artists have been known for generation to be predictors of the future. With strong observational skills, artists have been able to draw relations between histories of the past and connect it to current events. Their personal insights and commentaries are often transformed into a visual communication that lays the foundation for imagining the future.
Most likely the COVID-19 pandemic will not be resolved soon prompting the need for people to adjust their living conditions and lifestyle to the new normal. The idea of changing human social behaviour from the old ways to adapt to the new normal makes it an interesting concept for artists to visually contextualise their insights on these new changes.
1 Meter Apart is a group art exhibition that invites artists of different genres and styles to produce two artworks each. One of the artworks will be based on the artist’s observation of the old normal and the other artwork based on the artist’s imagination of the new normal. 1 Meter Apart serves as a social observation before the rise pandemic and also a reflection of the possible change to the future.
extracted writing by Scarlette Lee
Husin Othman Anti Social Distancing Charcoal and Acrylic on Canvas 92cm x 92cm 2020
Husin Othman Social Distancing Charcoal and Acrylic on Canvas 92cm x 92cm 2020
