I am a web and graphic designer, and also a lecturer of visual culture and art history. My research and teaching address questions of colonisation, power, violence and gender in visual culture and archival practices.
I have more than two decades of experience in graphic and web design ranging from corporate clients like FORD Malaysia, and HSBC to NGOs like the Malaysia AIDS Council, WITNESS, AWID and Sisters in Islam.
I co-founded the Malaysia Design Archive (MDA), a platform to trace the development of graphic design and visual culture in Malaysia. I have been the main driver for the vision and aim of MDA, and brings to the team a strong understanding of the field, both in practice and theory, as well as in networks of practitioners, innovators and thinkers. I am responsible for building the initial wealth of the archive materials, as well as providing a framework for organising and thinking through them to contribute to the articulation of Malaysian design history that is distinct from a Western canon.
The archive was initially an online repository that become widely used as a resource by both design practitioners as well as students in the field of graphic design and art, which has since grown to involve several public engagement activities of different scales including exhibitions and talks, and since May 2017, a physical archive space with membership, research clusters, workshops, talks and other types of public engagement programming.
In recognition of MDA’s decade-long dedication to creating a resource of Malaysian art and design work, Malaysia Design Archive was awarded the Grand Award for Culture at the 2017 Design for Asia Awards in Hong Kong.
“Citation is feminist memory. It is how we leave a trail of where we have been and who helped us along the way” Sara Ahmed. I would like to acknowledge friends, mentors, individuals and organisations, whose unwavering support and wisdom have been instrumental in shaping my feminist politics, activism, and critical thought.
Fiona Lee, Jac sm Kee, Rusaslina Idrus, Thilaga Sulathireh, Toni Kasim, Zainah Anwar, Rozana Isa, Yati Kaprawi, Suri Kempe, Alex McCarthy, APC Women’s Rights Programme, Simon Soon, Lim Sheau Yun, Beth Yahp, Juana Jaafar, tan beng hui, Sonia Randhawa, Wathshlah Naidu, Angela Kuga Thas, Pang Khee Teik, Ivy Josiah, Rafidah Abdullah, Lee Mee Fung, Rima Athar, Sachini Perera, Juliet Chin, Por Hong Heong, Fadiah Nadwa, William Harald Wong, Koh Lee Meng, Debbie Gan, Charis Loke, Bridget Welsh, Liza Ho, Nani Kahar, Masjaliza Hamzah, Sunitha Janamohanan, Fiona Wong, Yee I-Lann, Rizo Leong, Memeto, Eleanor Goroh, Bernice Chauly, Anna Har, Tings Chak, Ellena Ekarahendy, Justin Zhuang.