On State of Being at HAUS KCH brought together seven artists from East and West Malaysia in an exhibition centred on identity, solitude and self-awareness.
Curated by Rias Sofiyah, the exhibition presented Ainee Hanae, Ekhael, Rias Sofiyah, Sherylatachi, Tiomilokl, Pici Pamg and Solaris.
Looking inward through different practices
The curatorial premise focused on how artists translate private emotional states and questions of existence into visual form.
Rather than imposing a single stylistic language, the exhibition used the differences between the seven participants to examine how identity can be experienced, constructed and reconsidered.
Rias Sofiyah described the project as an invitation for viewers to look into the artists’ minds and, in doing so, to rediscover something about their own sense of self.
A wider creative context in Kuching
The exhibition coincided with HAUS KCH’s Seni Kita Weekend, a recurring community arts programme whose final 2023 edition focused on the environment.
That surrounding programme brought together film, design, craft, music and community activity, placing the exhibition within a broader creative ecosystem in Kuching.
On State of Being remained distinct from the festival around it, however. Its emphasis was intimate rather than celebratory: seven individual practices used as points of entry into questions of inner life, perception and personal identity.