Artists push political envelope at Malaysia Day show

As one enters Publika Mall from the car park, a curious sight comes into view.

Past the supermarket and a frozen yoghurt outlet, a statue of a golden cow sits placidly under a tree and on the tree hangs a little white cardboard elephant with the letters 'NFC'.

Flip the elephant over, and a familiar phrase comes to sight - ' Malaysia Boleh '.

The NFC elephant is one of many white cardboard pieces cut into the shape of the mammal that are found all over the trendy Kuala Lumpur mall.

Literal elephants in the room, the messages on the cut-outs range from 'Indelible Ink' (peeking from behind the supermarket's banana pile) to 'Scorpion Submarine' (not Scorpene) and 'Bakun Dam'.

While it is unclear if this is officially part of the M50 Selamat Hari Malaysia art show, the white elephants rub shoulders with several equally critical M50 art pieces.

Despite being co-organised by the Tourism and Culture Ministry and Balai Seni Visual Negara, the 50 artists do not shy away from tackling thorny issues such as poor governance.

In the mall's thoroughfare, Anurendra Jegadeva's portait of fourth prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, using the ubiquitous Flyingman matchboxes, chronicles his years as PM.

One Flyingman box - a symbol of Mahathir as the nation's saviour, perhaps - is marked with the word 'Lalang' while one, placed after the year 1998, is marked with the word 'Sodomy'.

Negaraku/Nerakaku

Elsewhere, in Publika's White Box gallery where most of the works are shown, another artwork pushes the envelop further by asking if it is " Negaraku " (My Country) or " Nerakaku " (My Hell).

In a classroom setting back on the thoroughfare, visitors are invited to write their favourite word from the Rukunegara on a blackboard, between the letters 'Ke' and 'An'.

While someone had written ' Makmur ' (propserity) in block letters, another wrote: " Keadilan, kepada Teoh Beng Hock dan Altantuya " (Justice for Teoh Beng Hock and Altantuya).

And nearby, blown up white latex gloves with the letters 'I Love MY' (with the shape of the heart, not word 'love') , printed in gold, flow down from second floor to the mall's first floor like a stream of swollen udders to be milked.

The M50 Selamat Hari Malaysia project celebrates Malaysia's jubilee independence anniversary. It features 50 artists and is co-organised by MapKL@Publika, Balai Seni Visual Negara and the ministry.

It is also carried out in collaboration with various galleries across the nation, including Artemis Art, which features a separate batch of 50 young artists, including many from Sabah, in its show '50 Shades of Malaysia'.

Phantom voters

In their work, the young artists raise bold questions on issues such as the outcome of the general election, "dirty politics", inequality and and unfulfilled promises by those in power.

In his work 'Spirit', Alex Fong uses the 1980s videogame character PacMan to represent the phantom voter.

"What I see: our home has become a game that is played by the high rollers in this country," he says in the show's catalogue.

For Sabahan artist Harold Reagan Eswar, his work 'Happy Holiday' is an expression of "frustration" over unfulfilled promises of the politicians.

"The M50 project features a wide range of work and some really push the envelope. Some are about how wonderful Malaysia is while others ask 'What the f***, Malaysia?'," said Artemis curator S Jamal al-Idrus.

The M50 show runs at Publika and various galleries from Aug 27 to Sep 17.