W. Rajaie

Finding cosmic truths with material substances
By Mary Ann Lim

Installation view at the SUNYI Artist-in-Residence exhibition of W. Rajaie, The Phenomenology of Dust, 2024, incense cones made from collected organic matter on site (leaf, moss, seed, wild fruit, root, horse dung, stone, and bone), sawdust, guar gum, and jasmine fragrance oil, dimensions variable.

W. Rajaie’s practice is rooted in primordial materiality, sifting between physical and metaphysical states. A quick glance at his oeuvre reveals a predilection for the organic: soil, wood, sand, mud, feaces. However, his works cannot be easily reduced to mere substance, or an instrumental framing of materials. Each element works together to act as medium, in dialogue with Rajaie himself, to bring forth incorporeal forces of cosmologies, poetics, myth, ritual, time, and more.

In 2022, Rajaie completed his Masters of Fine Arts and Technology from The MARA University of Technology (UiTM). His explorations in tactility and materials precedes his graduate studies. Working within the Kuala Lumpur fashion scene, Rajaie has created custom-made wearables, including assisting with the creation of Ayu by Tarik, a womenswear collection, and collaborated with Vans Malaysia and Converse Malaysia. In 2024, he participated in the SUNYI Artist-in-Residence programme organised by the National Art Gallery in Langkawi. He has also exhibited at group shows with GDP Campus (Kuala Lumpur), The Back Room (Kuala Lumpur), including their booth at ART SG 2024, Rumah Lukis (Kuala Lumpur), and TAKSU (Kuala Lumpur).

Upacara Cemar Tapak (Ceremony of Stained Feet) in conjunction with Sorga Rawa (Bog Paradise) exhibition at The Back Room, Kuala Lumpur.

His preoccupations with connecting the immaterial with the material finds root in a practice he calls “site-making”. Unlike site-specificity, which requires artists to work with the circumstances and temperaments of a particular location, Rajaie recreates the site within the contexts of the gallery. Sorga Rawa (Bog Paradise), 2025, Rajaie’s latest solo exhibition at The Back Room, is one such example. Using only soil, sand, water, wood, and oils infused with saffron and musk, he constructed a large, crude, wooden structure in the middle of the room, the floor awash with thick, swampy waters. The result is a self-referential world, steeped in its own mythical cosmos. Setting up a set of rules for its viewing, as well as a ceremonial ritual known as Upacara Cemar Tapak (Ceremony of Stained Feet) on specific days, the exhibition toes the line of religion, pushing physical encounters of the work into the realm of the sacred.

W. Rajaie, Dengan Nama Ruh Geluh, 2024, Soil, sand, pigment, dye, and binder on formed canvas, 244cm x 183cm. 

W. Rajaie, Maka Telan Matilah Aku dalam Perut Hangatmu, 2024, Soil, sand, pigment, dye, and binder on formed canvas, 183cm x 183cm.

Beyond site-making, Rajaie employs the use of words and recitations to similar effect in his debut solo exhibition, Ruh Geluh, 2024, held at TAKSU, Kuala Lumpur. Featuring 16 crude earth paintings, the Ruh Geluh itself, that is the “Spirit of Soil”, is invoked through 16 lines that serve also at the titles of each artwork. Without specific instruction, the audience is led by means of reading the titles to recite the mantra collectively. At the same time, soil is elevated to an eye-level position, shifting the viewers’ perspective away from looking down at the ground. The installation invites the viewer to participate actively in this rite of encounter with earth, making visible the fundamental primacy of the unseen threads that bind the worlds we reside in.

Click here to read our dialogue with W. Rajaie, where he discusses his background in fashion, his recent solo show Sorga Rawa (Bog Paradise) with The Back Room KL, and Rumah Batas, a multidisciplinary space he established in Kuala Lumpur.