A visitor takes a closer look at one of Kide Baharudin’s new works at his latest solo exhibition 'Mato-Mata' at Galeri Puteh in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: The Star/Kamarul Ariffin
EXHIBITION: KIDE BAHARUDIN’S ‘MATO-MATA’
Venue: Galeri Puteh, KL Eco City Mall, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends Oct 23
Artist Kide Baharudin returns for his third solo exhibition, Mato-Mata, which fills up the sizeable space at Galeri Puteh. It also marks his 10th year in the art scene, making the exhibition especially meaningful for collectors, art lovers, and the simply curious.
Mato-Mata features 42 acrylic paintings that depict lively scenes from Malaysia’s small towns, such as Seremban and his hometown of Kuala Pilah, to busy cities like Kuala Lumpur, as well as the colourful characters that reside in them.
The exhibition doubles as a retrospective of Kide’s decade-long journey as a full-time artist - beginning in 2015 as a fresh graduate selling works at pop art nostalgia shops and art markets, and now celebrated as a homegrown favourite with global collaborations to his name.
“At the core of my art practice, I’m always looking to tell stories, especially those of everyday Malaysians. Looking back on my journey as a painter up til now, it’s sometimes still hard to believe that there are people out there who love and are willing to buy my art. So I’m very grateful to have made it this far, thanks to their support,” says Kide.
The exhibition also offers visitors a peek at Kide’s creative process, including the sketches that he used to plan out the composition and perspectives of the pieces on display, as well as odds and ends from his home studio in Seremban, like a table he fashioned himself from an old window, paint-splattered clothes that he wears while working, and one of his works-in-progress.
Free admission. Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10.30am-5pm.
More info here.
The late Malaysia poet Wong’s 'In The Mirror' book, a posthumous collection of new and selected work. Photo: NUS Press Singapore
BOOK EVENT: WONG PHUI NAM'S 'IN THE MIRROR'
Venue: Lit Books, Tropicana Avenue, Petaling Jaya
Date: Oct 4, 8pm
For those who have loved the works of the late poet-writer Wong Phui Nam (1935-2022), you won’t want to miss out on the book launch of In The Mirror, a collection of unreleased and selected poems by Wong that he had been working on with editors Brandon K. Liew and Daryl Lim Wei Jie before his death.
The book launch will be held at Lit Books in Petaling Jaya on Oct 4, where you can join the discussion between bookshop owner Fong Min Hun and the Sydney-based Liew, one of the book’s editors.
As Wong’s final poetry collection, In The Mirror is an exploration of Malaysia’s fractured post-colonial identity and literary landscapes. It includes unpublished, unread poems from the final years of Wong’s life, and is put in conversation with his earlier works, including How The Hills Are Distant, as well as other key essays and literary reflections.
If you miss the Lit Books event, Liew will also be in conversation with writer William Tham at Tintabudi bookshop, Kuala Lumpur, on Sunday (Oct 5) at 3pm, to discuss the book and reflect on Wong’s work, life, and legacy.
More info here.
EXHIBITION TALK: 'MENGGODAM KECERDASAN YANG DIBUAT'
Venue: Ilham Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
Date: Oct 4, 3pm
In Kuala Lumpur, Ilham Gallery’s new exhibition Menggodam - curated by Roopesh Sitharan and Gunalan Nadarajan - brings together nine South-East Asian artists who creatively engage with and reimagine technology.
Running until Nov 2, the show features works by Corinne de San Jose (Philippines), Fendi Mazalan (Malaysia), Giang Nguyen Hoang (Vietnam), Haris Abadi (Malaysia), Hoo Fan Chon (Malaysia), Mira Rizki Kurnia (Indonesia), Tisya Wong (Singapore), Witaya Junma (Thailand), and Yang Jie (Singapore). Spanning film, sound, video, installation, and new media, their works highlight the region’s diverse approaches to art and technology.
To deepen understanding of the exhibition, Ilham Gallery will host a public event tited Menggodam Kecerdasan Yang Dibuat (Hacking the Intelligence in the Artificial) on Oct 4 at 3pm.
In this session (free admission, walk-in), curator Roopesh, joined by moderator Eddie Wong, reconsiders “intelligence” at the intersection of art and visual technology.
The talk contrasts Western frameworks that have shaped AI’s role in art with non-Western contexts offering alternative values and perspectives, framing intelligence not only as a technological issue but also as a cultural and philosophical question of renewed urgency in the age of AI.
More info here.
The cast of 'Sisa-Sisa 2' (from left): Tan Wong, Kathyn and Zhafir, who will bring de Silva’s theatre works to life at DPAC this weekend. Photo: W Productions
THEATRE: 'SISA-SISA 2: THE FORGOTTEN'
Venue: DPAC, Petaling Jaya
Date: ends Oct 5
Showing this weekend at DPAC, Sisa-Sisa 2: The Forgotten marks the much-anticipated return of award-winning playwright-director Mark Beau de Silva to the stage after years away.
More than a decade since the first Sisa-Sisa premiered at KLPac, this new chapter carries a renewed urgency while retaining the hallmarks of de Silva’s artistic style - works that are intimate yet expansive, threading personal struggles into larger questions of everyday life.
At once poetic and piercing, the production interlaces three original stories that confront the quiet invisibility of those pushed to society’s margins. Multilingual in form - moving between English, Bahasa Malaysia, Cantonese, Hokkien, and Mandarin - the play mirrors the layered realities of Malaysian life.
The ensemble - Douglas Wong, Kathyn Tan, Roax Tan, and Zhafir Muzani - brings raw immediacy and emotional weight to these narratives, offering a theatre experience that resonates well beyond the stage.
More info here.
The Feminist Reading Group series at Gerakbudaya in Petaling Jaya will be launched this Sunday at 10am. Photo: Filepic
BOOK EVENT: 'FEMINIST 101: HOW TO READ LIKE A FEMINIST'
Venue: Gerakbudaya, Petaling Jaya
Date: Oct 5, 10am
Huda Ramli - a feminist activist and academic researcher focused on gender, religion, society, and politics - will launch the Feminist Reading Group series at Gerakbudaya Bookshop this Sunday.
"To be feminist is to read and think with a gender lens - seeing how power, norms, and social structures shape different experiences for different people. With this lens, we can question inequality, challenge dominant narratives, and affirm humanity," outlines the session's notes.
This bookshop intitiative, free admission with registration, introduces the basics of using a gender lens to read texts, religious discourses, public policies, and everyday experiences, and how it opens space for awareness and action towards a more just society.
Feminist Reading Group is set to run every Sunday from 10am to noon at Gerakbudaya.
More info here.
Zulkefli’s solo exhibition '$omeone, $omething, $omewhere' at Galeri Sasha, Kuala Lumpur, presents 12 collage works alongside an installation and video pieces. Photo: The Star/Raja Faisal Hishan
EXHIBITION: ZULKEFLI JAIS’ ‘$OMEONE, $OMETHING, $OMEWHERE’
Venue: Galeri Sasha, Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends Oct 24
Zulkefli Jais has buried a national car in a Perak gallery, taken over Teluk Intan’s Leaning Tower, filled the National Art Gallery’s main lobby, shown in South Korea, and contributed to Galeri Petronas’ comeback show – yet he has not held a proper gallery exhibition.
KL's Galeri Sasha is filling up that gap with $omeone, $omething, $omewhere, the first solo exhibition by the award-winning Perak-born artist. It brings together new collages and an installation that look at ideas of movement, belonging, and how people adapt when faced with change.
Zulkefli's collages are built from cut-outs collected over the past decade from Newsweek magazines. Arranged into layered scenes, they show groups of faceless figures, people caught in between places, identities, or decisions.
Instead of telling one clear story, the works encourage viewers to think about how narratives can shift when images are re-used and re-imagined. The anonymity of the figures reflects both vulnerability and resilience, raising questions about how people navigate uncertain times.
This exhibition - free admission - offers audiences a chance to experience a new chapter in Zulkefli's practice up close.
More info here.
Nadirah’s 'Air Mata Air' exhibition concludes this weekend at The Back Room gallery, Kuala Lumpur. Photo: All Is Amazing
EXHIBITION: NADIRAH ZAKARIYA'S 'AIR MATA AIR'
Venue: The Back Room, Zhongshan building, KL
Date: ends Oct 5
Photographer-artist Nadirah Zakariya's Air Mata Air, a quiet and contemplative exhibition curated by Eva McGovern, ends its run at the Back Room gallery this weekend. It's the last call for art lovers looking for a smaller, more intimate show ... something that offers a gentle space to slow down and reflect.
When the world feels overwhelming, Nadirah turns instinctively to water - lakes, rivers, oceans - as places of refuge and renewal. That relationship takes shape here through fabric panels and backlit lightboxes, where images and words merge in a delicate play of shadow, translucence, and memory.
The title carries a layered meaning in Bahasa Malaysia: air mata means “tears,” while mata air refers to natural springs. Tears can hold both joy and sorrow, and Nadirah brings that range to life with phrases pinned to the lightboxes, such as hanyut in tears (“drowning in tears”) and rindu stings like saltwater (“missing someone stings like saltwater”). Each piece becomes a gentle meditation on fragility, resilience, and the emotional tides we carry.
Free admission. Gallery is open: noon–6pm.
More info here.
