Keeping Up With The Abdullahs 1 & 2

Also part of my previous solo in vwfa.kl; Keeping Up With The Abdullahs are two photographs of  a chinese and an indian family,  all dressed in traditional Malay costumes posed in front of their kampung baru (new village) house. For the past few years, my thoughts have revolved around Malaysia and Malaysians. This country have been built on the unity of all races; and for the past 55years, we have celebrated our cultural differences freely. But currently, there appears to be a political trend of separating the Malays from the the rest, sometimes even using religion as a desperate scare tactic. I feel that these irresponsible actions of a few can have very dangerous results for the future of Malaysia. So with these photographs, I am presenting a false/forced sense of assimilation in order to highlight this issue...hopefully injected with some humor. :) 

Keeping Up With The Abdullahs 2

Keeping Up With The Abdullahs 1

*Although not visible in these documentations, the final pieces are framed in plastic gilded frames with a brass plate engraving: MALAYSIANS (in Cantonese and Tamil, but written in Jawi). Thank you ePhoto Media for all the fantastic work on the prints - and also for the installation shot below.