Izat Arif berasal dari Kuala Lumpur dan belajar di Malaysian Institute of Art dan Camberwell College of Art di London. Dia dikenal karena unsur sinisme dan kecerdasan yang ada dalam karya gambar dan instalasinya. Karya seri yang ini memberi panduan mengenai cara mengarungi dunia seni yang membutuhkan perubahan dari pengetahuan lokal menjadi subjek untuk konsumsi penonton internasional. Dengan menggunakan media rambu-rambu, Izat berbicara tentang keberhasilan dan kesulitan menjadi seniman dari Asia Tenggara, menggali dan mengemas warisan, simbol, dan cerita rakyat untuk konsumsi audiens internasional. Dalam sebuah surat terbuka kepada pendengarnya, Izat menulis, "Izinkan saya mengejanya untuk Anda, secara harfiah, di papan-papan nama ini. Benda-benda ini akan berfungsi sebagai pengingat yang menyakitkan akan kesulitan yang dihadapi para seniman — kurangnya sumber daya, tekanan tanpa henti untuk menyesuaikan diri dengan tren seni global, dan perjuangan tanpa akhir melawan perampasan budaya. Saya ingin membuat Anda mempertanyakan keterlibatan Anda dalam sirkus komodifikasi budaya ini. Apakah Anda benar-benar tertarik untuk memahami kerumitan pengalaman kami, atau apakah Anda hanya mencari momen yang tepat untuk difoto untuk jejaring orang-orang yang Anda kenal?"

To whom it may concern (specifically the culturally enlightened),

Dear audience,

I hope this letter arrives to you at the peak of your culturally curious and voraciously consuming state. Here I present to you one of my latest artistic endeavours with much excitement: hand painted engraved acrylic signboards that attempt to encapsulate the many struggles, triumphs and at times exploitation masked as sincere exchange that come from being an artist from this exotic outpost. 

I have decided to adorn these signboards with text, symbols and imagery that may strike you as merely caricatures but I can assure you they have arrived from our rich and diverse cultural heritage, our everyday encounters and situations, and experience going through the many facets of the art world.

Through these works I will "ingeniously" exploit your insatiable appetite for the "exotic other" and package it in a convenient signboard format (for you to take home of course). Just imagine the thrill of spotting a common rural scenery, reduced to a mere decorative element on a board, dangling like a carrot of cultural intrigue in front of your perpetually curious eyes.

But don't fret, my dear audience, I haven't forgotten about the struggles. I'm acutely aware of the pitfalls of being an artist from this corner of the world. Allow me to spell it out for you, quite literally, on these signboards. They will serve as a painful reminder of the hardships that are faced— the lack of resources, the relentless pressure to conform to global art trends, and the never-ending battle against cultural appropriation.

I hope to leave you questioning your own complicity in this circus of cultural commodification. Are you genuinely interested in understanding the complexities of our experiences, or are you merely seeking a photographable moment for the grid?

So, dear international art consumers, I invite you to step right up and indulge in my crafted signboards. Take selfies, ponder the depths of our struggles, and feel the weight of your privilege. For in this not so theatrical spectacle of art, I offer you the chance to reflect, to question, and perhaps even confront the uncomfortable truths that lie beneath the glossy surface of cultural exchange and acrylic sheets.

Yours sincerely,

Izat Arif

Artist

Kuala Lumpur, June 2023