Malaysian artist Nor Tijan Firdaus creates intricate artwork out of electronic junk

A close-up detail of Nor Tijan's tribute to Henri Matisse, 'After The Amber Necklace' (e-waste on wood, 2020). Photo: Core Design Gallery

Nor Tijan Firdaus could not accept what her husband had just said. He just doesn’t get it, she convinced herself.

Irate and her ego bruised, the 34-year-old mother of four walked out of her home-based art studio in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, to get some fresh air.

Tijan, as she is fondly called, took long, deep breaths. She knew all too well that being married to another artist (painter Syafiq Hariz) meant receiving harsh – but well-informed – feedback.

“It was my first time experimenting with circuit boards, ” recalls the Klang, Selangor-born artist in a recent interview.

“He told me that I was too concerned about cutting off too many parts of the circuit board rather than appreciating its materiality as part of the visual.

“But the thing is, I was just focused on layering the circuit board to create the form, ” she continues.

Tijan feels art has the power to evoke emotion while sending a message, and that’s exactly what she capitalises on in her e-waste work. Photo: Nor Tijan Firdaus

Tijan, a UiTM fine art masters degree graduate, is well-known for her assemblage art using electronic waste (e-waste).

In her current exhibition called New Formal, Tijan juxtaposes notable Western artworks such as Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss and Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait With Bonito against artworks by Malaysian artists such as Latiff Mohidin’s Pago Pago 1966 and Syed Thajudeen’s Endearing Thoughts.

What emerges is a unique e-waste exhibition, featuring 14 new mosaic artworks.

New Formal, which is on show at Subang Jaya-based art gallery Core Design Gallery (Core), took Tijan more than a year to complete, and it is her first solo show.

Right now, the show is temporarily shut due to extended movement control order (MCO), but viewers can browse Tijan’s new works on the gallery’s website.

Home is where the art is

Back to the earlier conversation, Tijan remembers not staying incensed for too long at her husband for pointing out his concerns about her work. She realised that he was just looking at things from another perspective.

“He’s most supportive of my career, be it morally, mentally and physically, ” says Tijan fondly.

Indeed, both being artists, Tijan says they work well as a team to co-parent their young children and concentrate on their art-making.

Tijan says that although her kids respect her workspace, they would sometimes pop in to check in on her. Photo: Nor Tijan Firdaus

Typically, Tijan’s day begins at six in the morning with prayer time and preparing breakfast for the family while her husband gets the children ready.

She then gets to work at their shared studio space around 10am.

After lunch and getting the children to nap, Tijan and her husband would work in her studio until 5pm.

“This is where you can see the differences in our characters!” quips Tijan.

“My husband’s quite disciplined and cleans up his space whereas my discipline requires me to leave my materials all around.”

After that, it’s strictly family time. Once the children are in bed, the couple would return to the studio and work till very late.

'After Ahmad Fuad Osman Syhhh…' (e-waste on wood coated with epoxy resin, 2020). Photo: Core Design Gallery

She admits trying to complete New Formal under the MCO last year was frustrating, especially since she was unable to go out to buy materials for her art.

In between being an artist and a parent, Tijan also teaches basic graphic design and visual communication at a private college in Kota Damansara.

Her duties have since shifted to online due to the current MCO. She handles two classes every week.

“It’s a challenge to deal with family life and four kids while managing my part time job and working on my art. It is not easy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, ” she says.

Being an artist has always been her choice.

Tijan actively joined open shows and art competitions since 2007. Her first professional gig was a group exhibition in 2012 called Urban Art Show at art gallery Pelita Hati in Bangsar. To date, Tijan has 41 (group) exhibitions under her belt.

Some of her previous exhibitions include Artaid19 (2019), Apresiasi (2018) and Wish Me Luck (2017).

'After The Kiss' (e-waste on wood coated with 2k matte epoxy resin, 2020). Photo: Core Design Gallery

“Being a female artist is very rare and having a sculptor background is even more rare, ” says Scarlette Lee, Core’s director and New Formal’s curator.

“Over the years, Tijan has worked hard to exhibit works and she has definitely taken her craft to another level, ” she adds.

Lee clearly remembers visitors at international art shows such as the Shanghai Citizen Art Fair and Art Taichung in Taiwan in 2019 being “utterly fascinated” by Tijan’s e-waste artworks such as her Mona Lisa After 1503 (based on Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting) and After Girl With A Pearl Earring (based on Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s iconic oil painting).

Picture book fascination

Interestingly, Tijan stumbled upon art almost by accident when she was a young girl.

Like any nine-year-old, she was amazed by the beautiful artworks in the picture books at her father’s bookstore in Pasar Besar Meru in Klang.

'After Pago Pago 1966' (e-waste on wood coated with 2k matte epoxy resin, 2020). Photo: Core Design Gallery

She recalls flipping through the pages and tracing the pictures that intrigued her young mind.“And my father realised that I might be interested in drawing. He was supportive and even told stories of my grandpa who was a wood craftsman.

"My father believes my passion for art got passed down from my grandfather, ” shares Tijan.

She says the idea of referencing or borrowing existing well-known art images and challenging herself to reimagine them is great.

To her, it’s all about re-contextualising the original imagery, and e-waste is her choice medium.

Tijan, whose influences include American sculptor Louise Nevelson and Malaysian art legend Latiff Mohidin, started out by using daily found objects like toys, beads and buttons for her collages but it was while she was doing her masters that she had an epiphany.

“I attended a seminar on sustainability and I woke up to a sudden realisation. I started becoming concerned about what I need and don’t need, ” says the self-proclaimed anti-consumerist.

Tijan became more conscious about the impact of e-waste and how she needed to use her creativity to make a difference.

On the subject of old computers, Tijan wondered if at the end of their lifespan, she could find a new use for them as works of art.

Consequently, these small ideas gave birth to her e-waste assemblage art, prominent in her works since 2015.

Tijan says she obtains parts and material from discarded electronic devices, usually sourced from e-waste centres.

She agrees that working with e-waste is hardly a glamorous choice and describes the sorting and cleaning process as labour-intensive.

But she’s not complaining.

“Through this, I’m not only able to provide a new life to the waste itself but also to create an awareness of our human wastage in pursuit of newer technology, ” she says.

With New Formal, she hopes that through the familiarity of the artworks, people will also take note of the recycled materials used.

“I may not be planting trees as a statement to show I am concerned about the environment.

“However, I believe I can use my art to create an awareness to educate people through these everyday used tiny objects to remind that all of us play a part in it, ” she concludes.