Malaysian multidisciplinary artist Anjali Venugopal has joined us for a 3-month residency at Rimbun Dahan from June to August 2021.
About the Artist
Born (1995) and raised in Sabah, Anjali Nijjar Venugopal (Anju) graduated from Point College Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur with a Diploma in Film & TV Production.
Anju has always had a rebellious streak in their creative work. They do not like feeling caught or held down within their self expression. Most of their creative works are splayed-out messes, be it in their art performances, films or paintings. They’re always looking to break free from moulds that are constantly created by society to keep us in check. Their paintings are abstract and experimental pieces that are based on their impulses and self expression. They play with colours, different mediums and anything they can get their hands on. They love telling stories and finding different ways to merge their crafts.
Anju started exhibiting their artwork in 2015, back home in Sabah. Since then, they have exhibited their paintings around Malaysia. They exhibit their artwork yearly in Sabah Art Gallery under the “Sabah Women Art Exhibition”s. Anju has exhibited their work in Japan in ”Building Bridges” (2016 ) and “Celebrating Life” (2018) in Gallery Mona, Tokyo. Apart from painting, Anju has 9 years of experience writing, acting, directing and art directing in theatre. Among their theatre works are “Puck and the Mechanicals Do a Performance in 8 Minutes” (2020), “To Which My Brother Laughed;” (2019), “Indicinelive! 6” (2019), “Teater Modular: Kurator Dapur” (2018), and “FAMILY” (2017). They also actively work in front and behind the camera in film productions. Their recent experimental film project “To Perdure”, which explores the idea of maintaining oneself through hardship, was funded by CENDANA’S Create Now Funding Programme. Anju is a curator for Malam Sayu, a performance art initiative which received a grant from INXO Art Fund 2019, which has hosted multiple open mics, outdoor performances, writing circles and makes art films. Anju‘s poetry has also been published in the KL Spoken Word Anthology When I Say ‘Spoken’, You Say ‘Word’. Anju was highlighted in CLEO Magazine’s COOL KL 2020 as “individuals making a change creatively and the youth who are impacting society in every way”.
Tumblr: pertatos.tumblr.com
Instagram: instagram.com/pertatos
Artist’s Statement
Other than currently drawing and painting the bugs that have been swarming me here at Rimbun Dahan, I am interested to explore the idea “To Create, To Destroy, To Put Back Together Again”. This idea started out as frustration with the need to keep creating as a way to prove my worth and how I would like to destroy it all and find myself once again within the rubble. But since arriving here and journaling a lot, I have realised that a lot of life includes being destroyed and being rebuilt. One example is a caterpillar and how within a cocoon it completely liquifies itself before reforming again and becoming a moth. The same thing happens around us, in ourselves, our relationships, life and death, and in society. I am keen to explore a lot of questions I have been asking myself through different mediums of art. What are the ways to destroy? What exactly gets destroyed? How heavy is the emotional toll linked to destroying? What does destroying, creating and starting again mean? What is it like to continuously pick up the pieces? Is destroying always linked to rage and are there different types of rage? What is rebuilding and the difference between willingly rebuilding and forced rebuilding? I am using the time, space and energy that Rimbun Dahan offers to properly delve into my exploration and hopefully answer all these questions (or not).