'The Women' (circa 1950s), a painting by Kuching-born Yong Mun Sen (1896–1962), one of Malaysia’s earliest modern artists. It is one of the works on display at Ilham Gallery's 'The Plantation Plot' exhibition. Photo: Ilham Gallery
EXHIBITION: 'THE PLANTATION PLOT'
Venue: Ilham Gallery, KL
Date: April 20 to Sept 21
Ilham Gallery in KL will open The Plantation Plot this Sunday. The exhibition is a collaboration with Kadist, a global non-profit arts organisation committed to fostering dialogue on societal issues through art.
Curated by Lim Sheau Yun – an emerging Malaysian curator selected by Ilham Gallery and Kadist based on her proposal – the exhibition explores the plantation’s historical and contemporary legacies.
Featuring 28 artists and collectives from South-East Asia and the Americas, The Plantation Plot explores the legacy of plantations as engines of imperial profit and global trade. Rooted in monocrop agriculture and colonial expansion, plantations generated wealth at massive social and ecological costs.
Ilham Gallery's fifth floor space will showcase over 60 works from Kadist, Ilham Gallery, and various private and public collections, along with several commissioned pieces.
Inspired by Jamaican critic Sylvia Wynter, the exhibition reimagines the plantation plot as both a physical site and a narrative framework - one that continues to shape our world today.
Another highlight at Ilham Gallery is Pollination 4: the palms of y/our hands, created by Diana Nway Htwe, Jae Jae, M, Mark Teh, Okui Lala, Steven Nyi Nyi and collaborators. Running from April 20 to July 20 at Level 3, this edition explores Myanmar’s generational migration stories, particularly between Penang and Yangon, tracing cycles of mobility, displacement, and connection.
Pollination is a biannual platform supporting emerging South-East Asian curators and artists in exploring cross-border narratives.
More info here.
This weekend, Sim leads the KLPac String Orchestra out for its first show series this year. Photo: Goh Bong Hiang
CLASSICAL MUSIC: 'BAROQUE BRILLIANCE'
Venue: Pentas 2, KLPac
Date: April 19 and 20
Classical music fans are in for a treat this weekend as the KLPac String Orchestra returns for its first performance of the year.
Led by resident conductor and music director Andrea Sim, the programme at KLPac brings together some of the baroque era’s most beloved works. Bask in the serene beauty of Bach’s Air On The G String, a piece whose delicate lyricism continues to captivate centuries later. Feel the pomp and jubilance of Handel’s The Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba, drawn from his grand oratorio Solomon.
A special feature of Baroque Brilliance is its spotlight on emerging musicians. The KLPac’s String Orchestra’s rising stars – Hayato Takei, Lee Jan Siang, Li Zhuchen, and Samuel Anton Theseira – will take the spotlight in Vivaldi’s Concerto For Four Violins In B Minor. Guest cellists Isaac Chan Hao Jian and Ryan Lim Tze Yao will join in Vivaldi’s Concerto For Two Cellos In G Minor.
Adding a touch of historical authenticity, Mabel Choong will perform on a specially-built harpsichord crafted by the Wicked Music People.
Early birds are invited to an educational pre-show introduction by Sim.
Baroque Brilliance promises an evening of elegance tonight (8.30pm) – with a special matinee performance (3pm) by the KLPac String Orchestra to follow tomorrow.
More info here.
Tan Zi Hao’s 2022 installation work 'You Again' is now on view at Wei-Ling Gallery in the group show 'A Colloquy', featuring eight artists. Photo: Wei-Ling Gallery
EXHIBITION: 'A COLLOQUY'
Venue: Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends May 17
Kameelah Janan Rasheed (US) and Cian Dayrit (Philippines) headline A Colloquy, a group show at Wei-Ling Gallery featuring eight contemporary artists exploring language and typography. The exhibition marks both artists’ Malaysian debut, offering local audiences a first look at their acclaimed work.
Running through May 17, the exhibition takes over the Brickfields gallery with other standout works by Choy Chun Wei, H. H. Lim, Ivan Lam, Marcos Kueh, Tan Zi Hao (all Malaysia), and Yin Yin Wong (Netherlands).
As you take a stroll through the gallery, let A Colloquy unravel the complexities of text – not as a rigid system of communication but as a living, shape-shifting entity. Here, the artists deconstruct and reimagine letters, words, and symbols, exposing the inherent fluidity and ambiguity of written language.
Through deliberate choices in form – whether through variations in weight, spacing, structure, or distortion – they explore how text morphs alongside cultural and technological shifts.
In doing so, they reveal how typography is not merely a tool of clarity, but a medium of expression, tension, and interpretation, capable of evoking deep emotions and multiple meanings.
More info here.
EXHIBITION: AIMMAN HAFIZAL'S WHAT IF A JOURNEY THROUGH FOLKTALKES'
Venue: G13 Gallery, Petaling Jaya
Date: April 19 to May 3
Aimman Hafizal’s Instagram has already offered art lovers a taste of his creative vision. Now, his first solo exhibition, What If? A Journey Through Folktales, invites them into the gallery for a deeper encounter. This body of work reimagines traditional Malay proverbs and folklore, challenging fixed narratives and opening up new ways of thinking about fate, resilience, and transformation.
With cartoonish twists and layered storytelling, Aimman deconstructs familiar tales, probing the space between triumph and hardship, wisdom and folly. His compositions - ranging from dreamlike landscapes to cosmic scenes- dissolve the boundary between reality and imagination, prompting viewers to question long-held beliefs.
What If? A Journey Through Folktales offers a bold and thoughtful reinterpretation of tradition through a contemporary lens.
G13 Gallery also opens two more exhibitions today - Khairudin Zainudin's Nadi and Palito Perak's Flowers Don't Lie - promising a full day of artful discovery.
More info here.
Yeo's 'Studio View Of Sunset Over Nearby Roofs' (acrylic on paper, 2025). Photo: The Back Room
EXHIBITION: YEO TZE YANG'S 'OBSERVATIONS UNDER THE FLYOVER'
Venue: The Back Room, KL
Date: ends May 11
In zooming down highways that slice through counties, countries, continents - eyes and wheels fixed on the destination - what slips past unnoticed? What stories, lives, and landscapes lie hidden beneath the flyovers?
Singaporean artist Yeo Tze Yang's attemps to answer those questions. His first solo exhibition since moving to Kuala Lumpur, Observations Under The Flyover, isn't about a grand migration but rather a shift into a different rhythm.
While his earlier works traced the contours of an entire island city-state, Yeo, a self-taught artist, now focuses on Pandan Jaya, a neighbourhood tucked between the bustling highways of the Klang Valley - neither central nor peripheral. Living and working in the area around his studio, his practice is shaped by routine.
In his act of dwelling, he doesn’t paint from nostalgia but from the experience of being in a place long enough to observe the details - the curve of a footpath, the tilt of a stall, the glow of a shop sign after dark.
Observations Under The Flyover, as stated by the exhibition notes, is neither a grand commentary nor a romanticised ruin. Instead, Yeo's works carry an insistence: that even in the in-between, there is something worth noticing.
More info here.
A visitor walks past Fadhli's 'Bino I', one of 11 works from the new series. Photo: Galeri Sasha
EXHIBITION: FADHLI ARIFFIN’S ‘BINO’
Venue: Galeri Sasha, TTDI, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends May 10
Galeri Sasha hosts an abstract series by Fadhli Ariffin, inviting viewers to engage with the work in its minimalist setting.
Bino takes its name from a slang term used in central Perak, short for "berbinar-binar", meaning “to shimmer.” It reflects Fadhli’s deep interest in light, memory, and the fleeting nature of things.
Inspired by the way light dances across rivers, rain, and lakes, the Taiping-born multidisciplinary artist - whose practice spans painting, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking - captures these transient moments in his work.
Each piece is built through slow, deliberate layering, using techniques like washing, brushing, and repetition, echoing his roots in printmaking.
Rather than simply depicting nature, Fadhli’s works invite us to pause, to notice the quiet rhythms and subtle brilliance in everyday life. Bino offers a grounded yet dreamlike encounter with the world around us.
More info here.
