I vaguely recalled an
interview (but I had forgotten if it was two or three years ago)
when I got an email from one Jimin Lai, a freelance photographer,
assigned to take photographs of me and Silverfish Books for an
article written by Richard Covington about the arts scene in
Malaysia for the Saudi Aramco World magazine. That was six months
ago.I was used to the usual Malaysian press style photographs, the posing-posing type, with the forced smile and pointy finger. (Ever wondered why pictures in local newspaper always have dignitaries pointing stupidly at something or other? Apparently, that’s the editors’ way of being creative! Duh.)
Jimin Lai was quite different. He didn’t even want me to smile. The magazine had sent him the article and he was required to interpret it. I was fascinated when he told me what he was going to do. He made me stand at three different spots (no posing) and stitched the three photos together for a panoramic view of Silverfish Books here.
The story titled New Art Mix featured several Malaysians associated with the arts, including the Islamic Arts Museum, Nurul Izzah, Malaysian National Arts Gallery, the Matahari gallery, film producer Zarul Albakri, composer Johan Othman of USM, Valentine Willie, Joe Sidek, and the city of George Town.
Read the full article here.
