These days, it is rare to encounter an exhibition – outside a national institution – featuring such a distinguished line-up of Malaysian artists, including Latiff Mohidin, Mad Anuar Ismail, Abdul Mansoor Ibrahim, Siti Zainon Ismail, Mustapha Hj Ibrahim (1946-2024), Ali Mabuha Rahamad, Zulkifli Dahlan (1952-1977), Maryam Hj Abdullah, Ismail Abdullah (1948-2026), Abdul Ghafar Ibrahim, Yusof Gajah (1954-2022) and Mazlan Noor Along.
They are among the featured artists in Anak Alam 50 Tahun (1974–2024), currently on view at Harta Space in Ampang, Selangor.
The exhibition, running through Aug 31, commemorates five decades of the Anak Alam collective, one of Malaysia’s most influential independent art movements.
Curator Faizal Sidik said the showcase features more than 60 artworks and archival materials by 12 Anak Alam artists, encompassing painting, poetry, sculpture and theatre, while charting the movement’s development from the 1960s through the 2020s.
The exhibition is structured around two principal components: a gallery show and an archival documentation space.
The gallery is organised into four periods – going back to the 1960s – offering an overview of how the artists’ practices and works evolved across successive decades.
The archival section, meanwhile, brings together correspondence, exhibition catalogues, posters, invitation cards, photographs, newspaper clippings, articles and other printed materials and artefacts that document the collective’s history.
Faizal said the exhibition took about two years to realise, including the process of locating, collecting and securing works from artists based in different locations.
"Bringing these works together was no easy task as some of the artists have passed away, while others live in different places. The main challenges were time and distance, in addition to me personally coordinating the delivery and collection of the artworks and contacting the artists,” he said, adding that he hoped the showcase would lay the groundwork for a larger-scale exhibition in the future.
Meanwhile, National Journalism Laureate Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar, who was part of the Anak Alam community in the 1970s, described the showcase as an important occasion that offers an opportunity to reassess the collective’s contribution after five decades.
"If literature has ASAS 50, then the arts, painting and artistic activities have Anak Alam. To me, Anak Alam is an extraordinary institution, an unparalleled art movement in (Malaysian) history,” said Johan in his speech at the show's opening.
He added Anak Alam, initially driven largely by artists and poets, subsequently expanded its creative scope as later generations introduced new forms of expression, including theatre and open-air performances.
"The exhibition aims to examine the contributions of each Anak Alam artist as every one of them has a distinct identity.
"We want to look at what they have contributed over these 50 years and what today’s younger generation can learn from them,” said Johan.
Veteran artist Mazlan Noor Along, 70, who is participating with four abstract works – Genta Rintik (2017), Gema Jalur 22 (2019), Gema Jalur 23 (2020) and Genta Kosmik (2023) – said Anak Alam’s distinctiveness stems from its character as an independent collective without a formal organisational structure.
"Anak Alam is unique. It is not registered, there are no annual general meetings, and there is no president or deputy president.
"It was established as a bureaucracy-free independent collective ... that is what has enabled Anak Alam to survive to this day,” said Mazlan. – Bernama
