The best storytelling comes from your own story: artist Jalaini Abu Hassan

Jalaini pays tribute to classic Malay cinema in 'Kekasih Hati' (acrylic, bitumen, beads and fabric collage on canvas, 2023), which features actors Latifah Omar and Nordin Ahmad. Photo: Galeri Puteh

What comes to your mind when you see or hear the phrase “Malay kitsch”?

For contemporary artist and educator Jalaini Abu Hassan, or known to most as simply Jai, it conjures up images of traditional Malay weddings and the home he grew up in, decorated by his mother in the style that was typical for that time – lacy curtains, plastic flower arrangements and bucolic landscape artworks that you could find in many a Malaysian household.