An interview with Nadhirah, an Undergraduate Fine Arts Student, LASALLE College of the Arts.
So Nadhirah, give us a little background about yourself.
I’m a Fine Arts undergrad with an interest in experimental video art and filmmaking. I was always interested in the arts as a kid - and my primary school notebooks riddled with Pokemon fan art would be a great testament to that.
Recently, I’ve realised I liked how subjective and expressive it is. I like that it can take many forms, convey different meanings, explore different concepts and reflect or encapsulate unique human experiences in a myriad of creative ways. As part of my final year project, I’m adopting the moving image to address body and identity politics.
Being an artist yourself, what are some of the work or art, that you identify with most?
I think I respond the most to art that reveals something about a particular culture or lifestyle that I otherwise would never have known about. It’s difficult to pinpoint one work or movement specifically that I identify with but I generally tend to gravitate towards works that address social/political/cultural issues in really subtle ways.
Do you have a favourite theme or concept to work with?
My work has always been female-centred. As a kid I’ve always just drawn female characters and now - looking at the past three years in LASALLE; I realised most of my subject matter deals with gender issues. I’ve thought about why this could be and I think it’s my natural artistic inclination to position myself as a brown, queer woman to address or highlight body and identity politics in our current social and political climate.
I think that personal narratives can be transgressive to the hegemonic patriarchal order of our society. The MeToo Movement started from people sharing their personal stories and it sparked a whole movement.
What kind of medium is your favourite to work with as an artist?
As for medium, I don’t like to constrict myself to one type of medium. My creative process is fluid in that I try out several different things to see what works best in conveying my message or that encapsulates my concept. Though right now I find myself gravitating towards film as a medium.
Aside from being a film buff, I wanted to hijack this platform/medium - historically male-dominated and infamous for their underrepresentation and presentation of women in film - to inscribe narratives unique to the non-white, non-heterosexual, non-cissexual, non-male experience. Not to say that I represent these people but I think given that I am privileged to be in art school, I think I want to do what I can to marry art with activism in addressing pressing social issues.
As a creative, what or who influences the way you work and what you are doing today?
Most of my influences are largely other artists. There’s not one person I am directly influenced by. My mind kinda has a visual giant Pinterest-like board of all the works I’ve seen and studied.
That being said, since most of my work in LASALLE deals with gender issues; I do draw a lot of inspiration from female artists and artist collectives such as Guerrilla Girls, Barbara Kruger, Mona Hatoum, Martha Rosler and many many more.
[Clit sculptures created by Nadhirah for her Final Year Project]
Seeing as this is your final year at LASALLE, what is your final project about? Was it a real-life experience that led to this project or should I say, what inspired you to create this project?
My project’s working title is “See me now, your severed daughter, laughing our name into echo, all the world shall remember.” by Audre Lorde.
The genesis of my final project stemmed from my personal experience with sunat perempuan or Female Genital Mutilation. It became the catalyst to make a work addressing the harmful pollution beliefs that certain purification rites we observe in our day-to-day can regulate and police bodies, especially female bodies. Though it comes off quite angsty, the entire work charts my own journey in reconciling with a disembodied experience.
What do you want others to gain or learn when they come upon your project? How does your project fit with today’s society in terms of the current social and political issues?
Ideally, I hope that it can add to the discussion and prompt conversations about FGM as an issue that still persists. I’m not totally sure how much of it is still practiced because based off the research I’ve done of this in Singapore; I’ve found out that a Muslim female gynaecologist had spoken out about this procedure here and that today, it is largely a symbolic procedure - so no cutting or incision of any kind is performed. Even so, I feel that symbolic or not, the fact remains that there is still a demand for this procedure to be carried out here. If anything, this reflects the way that our society still feels the need to regulate female bodies. Especially when you remember that the entire point of the sunat is to decrease a woman’s sexual drive.
I think it just offers a personal narrative that can help to normalise this experience as one that is inherently problematic. Additionally, I think it can spark conversations about body politics and gender issues. I feel that even just people talking about things like this means it had some kind of impact.
[Linocut print artwork mimicking kaleidoscopic lens or imagery created by Nadhirah]
Seeing as this project is quite personal to you, what was the most important thing when creating this project?
The most important thing was getting my facts right. My work is so research-heavy and I’m dealing with all these complicated academic texts on emotion and abjection and pollution beliefs that it was challenging to synthesise all these huge theoretical ideas into a concept that relates back to my own experience.
It was also really challenging to get the opinions of a Muslim female gynaecologist; so I was really really thankful when I chanced upon ‘Something Private’. It’s a local podcast about everything related to the vagina! They did an episode on FGM; featuring a profile who had undergone the procedure and a short run-down of how it’s performed today based off the host’s interview with a Muslim female gynaecologist.
Aside from this, it’s important for me to disclose that my work does not presume to speak on behalf of the entire Muslim female community. My opinion of this is entirely my own and through the interviews I’ve conducted with other muslim folk in my age group; not all of them find a problem with this issue - and that’s fine!
As most creatives go through this phase of process, how long did it take you to come up with this project?
This entire project took 2 years to create. What you’ll see in the final Grad show will be so, so different from when I first started experimenting with forms and material at the very beginning. So I think it’s interesting to see the evolution of my own practice.
[Clit sculptures created by Nadhirah for her Final Year Project]
What should we be expecting for your exhibition and when will it be showcased?
The end result will be realised through a video or a series of videos. Throughout the entire course of this project; I have realised that there are certain ideas that I may want to explore after I graduate. Some of these ideas I feel may not work in an institutional setting and I have fantasies of trying out really unconventional ideas that might be too unconventional for art school even. But we’ll see.
We’ll be having two shows for this. It’s a bit confusing but I actually like that we get to showcase twice. First we’ll be having it in our Winstedt campus over at Newton and I strongly encourage people to go for this one because you get to see the full set-up of our works. When we bring over our works to the McNally campus, most of our works will be cut down to squeeze everyone in one gallery. The Winstedt show starts on 24 April and the LASALLE Grad show at McNally runs from 14 May! (Not entirely sure how long they run just yet - but keep your eyes posted!)
Other than a series of videos, will there be any physical production like merchandises or deliverables for your “fans” to purchase? Will it be online or only during a certain period of time?
Yes! I have plans to create either tote bags with clitoris prints on them or clitoris jewelry! I don’t think I’d want this to be marketable only because it may come off as capitalising on FGM; and that’s not really my intention. I think just selling these stuff at an art school grad show is fun but I think once it becomes something commercial I find that ethically questionable given the context of my work.
Besides your project, which of the works that will be exhibited at the showcase is your favourite?
AH there’s so many, I’m so blessed to be surrounded by such creative energies. My favourite right now though, would be the work of one of my classmates. She deals with post-human subject matter and her works are realised in the coolest ways! Her practice is quite material-based and I think her treatment of the material is really interesting and unique; so keep a lookout!
Being a creative, everyone had a dream project or a project that they would like to try out, what’s yours?
My dream project would be to make a performative piece. My best friend is constantly telling me how she sees me as a performance artist and I’ve always waved this off. But secretly I think I would love to do that.
As an artist and a person who grew up and lived in Singapore, what is your goal for the future?
My goal for the future is to be a filmmaker. I think the global film industry is severely lacking in its representation of bodies other than the white, cishet, male narrative. I’m bored of it. I don’t care about their stories - the film scene is overly-saturated with these stories. I want more stories with WLW or MLM or with more brown people in it. I want more stories that show the true universality of the human experience.
Lastly, what do you hope to see in the arts and design industry in the future?
Specifically in Singapore, I hope for artists to do more works that won’t be censored by censorship laws here. I also hope to see a better appreciation of the arts here - it’s disheartening the amount of times you hear someone say “I can do that too”. I always thought this was a ridiculous sentiment because no two people will be able to make the same work because it is an indisputable fact that how you treat the material and concept is subjective to you! And that’s the tea, sis.
photographed by Sarah Syaah. artwork photographs and linocut prints by Nadhirah.
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