Reconstructing narratives of past and present
By Nabila Giovanna

A&M's Fresh Faces is where we profile an emerging artist from the region every month and speak to them about how they kick-started their career, how they continue to sustain their practice and what drives them as artists. Read our profile on Ang Xia Yi here.

When did you decide to study and pursue a career in art?

In 2017, I pursued my Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Journalism at Central Saint Martins in London and it was after the first year that I dropped out of school. I had to figure out what was next for me and upon returning home, I first worked as a writer. Photography came quite naturally after. I am surrounded by family or friends who are photographers or documentary-makers of sorts. I remember not being able to find the sort of images I wanted to complement the articles I was writing. There was not an image which felt right. This lack made me want to start making images I wanted to see.

I would not exactly say that I pursued a career in the arts but I sort of stumbled into it when I was invited to exhibit my photography works early on at The Back Room in 2019. That started it all for me and I have not stopped since.

Your work speaks about history, memory, and identity politics. How do they influence your practice? How do the emotional consequences of colonialism show up in your artworks?

I am shaped by the history and identity of where I come and its surroundings. Every little, mundane aspect of everyday life informs my practice whether it is within Southeast Asia or the other cities I had visited growing up when I was younger. I question how our every decision, consciousness and subconsciousness—the way we see, act and speak has all been decided by generations before us.

My practice looks into the relationship between our present and past trauma through the exploration of intergenerational memories, knowledge systems, archival systems, inherited family archives and the broader contemporary crises of displacement whether of people, languages or cultures. I am also deeply interested in personal histories and in topics surrounding care, vulnerability and intimacy which have always been sidelined when placed beside institutional narratives. Through my works I use archives as materials to reconstruct new narratives of time and place, movement and resolution, the self and our geo-bodies. Materiality plays an important role in my practice, whether it's using a piece of yellowing kitchen linen from the 1990s or my mother’s torn cotton dress from the late 2000’s, I will always weave in some form of personal narratives into the work I make.

“ I am shaped by the history and identity of where I come and its surroundings. Every little, mundane aspect of everyday life informs my practice whether it is within Southeast Asia or the other cities I had visited growing up when I was younger.”

Could you give us a glimpse of how your day is like as an artist? What kind of routine do you follow to keep your creativity going?

I can work anywhere so I don’t fuss about needing to be at my studio at a specific hour. But, I do try to be up early during the morning to get my day going. My schedule is a lot more structured when I am working on an upcoming show or other projects I do or else I try to keep it fairly flexible. I find that taking one hour walks at the end of my day is mportant. It’s the best time for me to process and reflect about everything that has happened throughout my day.

‘Inventory of Intimacies’, 2024 at The Back Room, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo by Kenta Chai. Image courtesy of the artist. — ‘Inventory of Intimacies’, 2024 at The Back Room, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo by Kenta Chai. Image courtesy of the artist and The Back Room, KL.

Installation view of ‘Inventory of Intimacies’, 2024 at The Back Room, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo by Kenta Chai. Image courtesy of the artist. — Installation view of ‘Inventory of Intimacies’, 2024 at The Back Room, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo by Kenta Chai. Image courtesy of the artist and The Back Room, KL.

You recently had a group show at The Back Room, KL titled ‘Inventory of Intimacies’ (2024). How did the opportunity for the show come about?

I received a text message from Ellen who works with The Back Room asking if I was interested to participate. ‘Inventory of Intimacies’ was a group show of textile artists.

In your works, you have explored various mediums such as photography, drawings, paintings and archival materials. What draws you to use a diverse range of mediums? Are there any other mediums you wish to explore in the future?

I find that using a diverse range of mediums helps me to convey what I hope to put out. It feels restricting to limit myself to a specific medium. I am hoping to work on sculptures in time, possibly using a combination of steel, textiles and other forms of domestic found objects. I find myself drawn to these materials in the past few years.

Ang Xia Yi working on her artwork. Photo by Amani Azlin. Image courtesy of the artist.

What are the challenges in sourcing and transforming everyday materials for your practice?

The challenges have always been about the technicality and production aspect when incorporating everyday materials in my practice. For me, it is about finding the right balance between letting the materiality inform the narrative or trying to achieve a certain finishing and letting it determine the narrative after. It’s all intuitive and based on what feels right. There is a lot of failed experimentation happening in the studio which ends up becoming the finished works. I find it important to give the works the time and space it needs to breathe.

Ang Xia Yi, ‘The Foolish Young Woman Who Removed The Mountains’, 2022, domestic textiles (baby napkins, cotton pillowcases, kitchen cheesecloth and linen shirt) on canvas, 90 x 80 x 2cm. Exhibited at island gallery, New York, USA. Image courtesy of the artist.

Could you share a specific project or piece that holds significant personal meaning to you?

‘The Foolish Young Woman Who Removed The Mountains’ (2022) was my first textile work and it holds a lot of personal significance to me. It was one of the works which was made from lots of trial and error in the studio for about half a year in order to achieve the outcome I hoped for. One of the materials used was cotton baby napkins that have been around me since the late 1990s. The baby napkins hold bodily stains of my younger self and have been reused as domestic scraps. It was my first time showing textile works and I am glad that it was shown during ‘circular ruins’ (2022), a group show at island gallery in New York.

BUKA BUKU by Openbooks International (Wales), China Academy of Arts (Hangzhou) and The Godown, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Image courtesy of The Godown.

In 2021, you went for a residency hosted by Openbooks Online by Open Books, the China Academy of Arts and The Godown. How have this experience contributed to the development of your practice?

It was an 8-weeks long residency programme hosted by the Open Books (Wales), The Godown (Kuala Lumpur) and the China Academy of Arts (Hangzhou) curated by Lienne Loy, pairing Malaysian artists with other artists from Wales, China and India. I was paired with Sue Williams who was a painter, mixed-media artist based in Wales who happened to be a lot older than me. The programme took place online during the pandemic and we had our exhibition at The Godown after. Maybe because it happened during the pandemic, I assumed it was going to be isolating but it became a lovely experience because it felt like we had each other digitally and we ended up becoming good friends. We had to call each other at least once a week as part of the residency structure/programme. Despite our age gap, cultural differences and different ways of thinking about art, life and everything in between, we found many similarities with each other in the midst of pandemic uncertainty and chaos. The experience made me more self-assured to keep doing what I do. It opened up more possibilities for me to explore different mediums. This was when I started making mixed media based works.

Ang Xia Yi, ‘Nowhere To Be Found After’, 2024, cotton baby napkins from 1990s, cotton-canvas, linen fabric, cotton-polyester mixed fabric topstitched with cotton threads, 26.5 x 35cm. Image courtesy of The Back Room, KL.

Aside from making artworks, you have also created several publications, namely A Happy Occassion (2023) and iPhone Diary (2022). How do your publications complement or differ from your visual art practice? Could you walk us through your process in creating your publications?

The publications I make are made to compliment my art practice. Books are extensions of my art practice in more accessible, democratic forms. Although, I keep them separate from the works I make. I do believe that books are vessels of knowledge and they should be accessible to everyone of all ages, gender and nationalities. Books are a more affordable and accessible way to owning a piece of your favourite artists. My process for creating a publication is fluid too. I enjoy working backwards by thinking about the physicality of the book and begin by working on the structure of the book first. The works in the book tend to come much later.

“Books are extensions of my art practice in more accessible, democratic forms. ”

Who has been a mentor or an important artistic influence? And why?

I never had a mentor but there are a few artists I have always looked up to. The works of Simryn Gill, Louise Bourgeois, Rachel Whiteread and Camille Henrot are particularly resonant to my practice because they created works that may not appeal to newness but are not traditional. They are rather susceptible to time, emotions and the politics of life.

Could you share your favourite art space or gallery in Malaysia or elsewhere? Why are you drawn to that space and what does it offer to you or your practice?

The National Library of Singapore is one of my favourite spaces to spend time in. I love spaces which are accessible and open to all types of people and communities. The extensive collection of books and printed resources has been important to feed me with new images and writings.

What are your hopes for Malaysia’s local art scene, and regionally as well?

My hope for Malaysia is that we continue to create safe spaces for artists to grow their career. The infrastructures set in place are not exactly friendly to those hoping to maintain their careers as artists here. But I do think with great adversity comes great art.

Could you share your upcoming projects and goals that you wish to achieve in the future?

I am currently creating new works for early 2025 and am hoping to do more residencies for the coming year.

The interview is edited. Read other Fresh Faces interviews here.