Andrew Pok's photo exhibition of everyday beauty all around 'Your World'

'The first step to forming a lasting memory is to pay attention,' says Pok, who has a photography exhibition on at Studios SamaSama in KL. Photo: The Star/M. Azhar Arif

There's beauty all around us if we know how to look. This adage definitely applies to My World Through Your World, the first photo exhibition by 54-year-old artist, writer and researcher Andrew Pok Chong Boon.

Pok’s showcase features images from common household items to street corners and roadside stalls to sweeping landscapes. Most of them were taken with�

his mobile phone as he documented his daily experiences between Apr 5, 2015 and Apr 4, 2016.

“I have always devoted attention to the everyday,” says Pok during an interview at Studios SamaSama in Setapak, Selangor. “In fact, the first step to forming a lasting memory is to pay attention. The everyday that I refer to is the trivial, ordinary, and inconsequential things and activities that people tend to take for granted. This exhibition is about capturing ordinary life.”

Studios SamaSama, where the exhibition is being held, is a new arts space founded by Pok with artist and teacher MeiKei Ho. The gallery opened in mid-2017 and aims to be open-minded, experimental and a platform for new talent.

Pok (R) at a showing of his work at Studios SamaSama. Photo: The Star/M. Azhar Arif

Pok’s presentation is something of a new challenge for him, despite having been involved in art and design since 1983. He's never done a photo exhibition before, though he has done some work using photographic processes.

“Things that are trivial can transform into something extraordinary,” he says. “Like a leaf – you may not pay it a second look, but when you capture the image with a camera in a bright place, it gives you a nice composition and something to think about. There's insight in this ordinary process.”

The Kuala Lumpur-born cross-disciplinary artist has always displayed a tint of humanity in his work. Pok’s installation Circumrotation (2009), which featured used shoes to explore human living conditions, was a highlight at the Prudential Malaysian Eye exhibition three years ago.

He was also instrumental in the creation of A Mazing Jetty (wooden installation), a collaborative project in Kampung Terbing Runtuh, Johor Baru in 2016.

Pok is now head of the research and development department at KL’s Dasein Academy of Art, a role he actively nurtured after completing his PhD in practice-led fine art research at London Metropolitan University. He's also the co-founder of Artsemble, a community art collective.

An image from Pok’s show, displaying his interest in finding beauty and contrast in the ordinary.

Pok has exhibited internationally in Britain, Italy and China. But at his My World Through Your World showing, the nature of his work is distinctively more personal. Pok literally puts his world on display, offering us a glimpse into his life and day-to-day experiences.

The exhibition features 337 images with the idea of mindfulness, and they are inspired by both social media and how people constantly (or religiously) record their lives. In fact, a chunk of the pictures would not look out of place on Facebook.

There are images of Pok’s meetings with his students, as well as his street photography work. Another picture shows the results of his recent toe injury. Interestingly, the showcase isn't curated by theme or chronology.

That said, curiosity is a big deal with Pok. He hasn’t forgotten humour in his subjects and there are closeups of objects, unusual angles, and even snaps of book pages he finds inspiring.

One of the several untitled images from Pok’s exhibition.

By investigating the images closely, you will find that many have their own narratives.

An image of child’s slipper, abandoned at a zebra crossing, is a particularly worrying one? What happened?

Pok doesn’t know. He just presented the viewer with a memory.

At first glance, some photos look like they were taken by mistake. Somehow, when all put together, these images take on an understated strength: snapshots representing moments all building up into an intimate look into a person’s life.

“People rely on smartphones more and more to document their lives. This is how memories will be documented.”

One photo with a particular significance to Pok was taken while taking his mother to the hospital.

“It was my mother’s first selfie. And also my first selfie with her,” says Pok, recalling that special shot.

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'My World Through Your World' is at Studios SamaSama, 9-2 Jalan 67/26, Taman Sri Rampai, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur till Apr 15. Open: 6.30pm-9.30pm (Mon-Fri), 10am-9.30pm (Sat-Sun). Call 012-695 7971. FB: Studios SamaSama.