And the swirling, electric light unfurled into a creature of blue. He stepped out, forming paws. Majestic with each stride, he was as shaggy as a wolf and as large as an elk. His fur offered a psychedelic glow to the blackness; almost like luminol yet phosphorus in the fade of his movements. As he […]
Author: mzthenga
The Little Mermaid
She laughed and danced with the thought of death in her heart. ― Hans Christian Anderson, The Little Mermaid Hans Christian Andersen’s OG version of The Little Mermaid is super dope. I’m obsessed with fairy tales/folk tales/mythology and their underlying messages, teaching us almost everything we need to know about human psychology, sociology and […]
What I Was Afraid To Say
Unsent
Dear Philippines, We were so young. I’m not even sure if I knew what it was like to feel love, or to learn through love at the time. I felt quite lost, and I’ve never been particularly open or good at making friends. I was lonely but I don’t think I recognised it in myself. […]
The Libby Experience
Who is Libby? I sat myself down to meditate one morning and a voice came to me; Look Here, I am a girl of world! I have grown up in four different countries so far and I speak with blended culture behind my tongue. I was raised in a fragmented family. I was beaten and […]
Aurora/Syncretised Ideas [DETAIL]
Dream Sequence 1
The reddish bricks of an English suburb stack up into homogenous houses, fired in the kiln of my childhood. I, the architect, am erroneous prone but in control. And I’ve returned to this place where I spent such turbulent, formative years. I am alone in the house at the corner of the cul-de-sac. Only, I […]
A Drunken Sailor of Sorts
It’s like cold Chardonnay, This weightless floating. Homes I left behind trail Away into a pupil in the sun, A self-contained equilux, Sinking over the ocean. Mermaids sing memories Across changing winds, Upon which my realisations Race then hover and sit, still. They also sink and acquiesce Into the arms of the horizon With each […]
Observations 4; On Borders
He scans my face indiscreetly and I press my fingers on the readers. This place is where transient people flow, all regimented and watched. Louis Vuitton luggage and heels, what are you thinking? First. Business. Economy. Could they make it any clearer. “Why haven’t you been home?” “I’m living here.” “Where is your Visa?” “I […]
Observations 2; On Inaccessibility
“Hey Libby, come hang out?” he says. It seemed as though we broke the boundaries of intimacy a little too quickly. I wanted you, I knew it instantly. Your madness melding with mine under the clutter of shop signs and advertising that stretched into the heavens. At this point in my life, I can more […]
Observations 1; On Socialising
I was knackered as soon as I stepped foot in there. Hiding behind a glass of wine and a plume of smoke, I sunk back, as empty laughter erupted around me in hellish cackles. Teeth bared, rabid apes. It’s probably a familiar scene to you. I was honestly there to have a good time. It […]
Like A Killer 3, September 2018, mixed media
Like A Killer 2, August 2018, mixed media
Like A Killer, July 2018, mixed media
Shark Totems
My childhood house is full of spacetime parasites but when I’m feeling Shark, they don’t bother me. Shark is like the ancient god of the ocean, traversing the dreamscape. Because Shark does not hesitate, people seem to have forgotten that Shark is the most sensitive of creatures. Surrounded by water, Shark feels everything. Yet, the […]
Elkish
I keep dreaming and having flashes of a stag? An elk? First, like a burning desire, leaping over me. Escaping. And now, this dream. A gleaming white elk. My friend, My steed, My teacher. Lord of the Undergrowth, rare and godly, I will follow you through the dark, misty cover of the canopy, Avoid bureaucrats […]
Plastic Smiles and Peaches (remix)
Revisited this lady and gave her a makeover. I placed her on a bunch of inky/pastel/lipstick stains that I had scanned in. They reminded me of paua shells which reminded me of eyes, seen on many Maori carvings. They also reminded me of black holes and phone screens, or mirrors. Like the original, I surrounded […]
Plastic Smiles and Peaches
Apparently this shit is lame but whatevs, ya know it’s a real ass problem and booty is a big deal. Instagram is part of the digital cage for insecure chicks. It’s something that we’re all exposed to (all the freakin time). I used to not really give a shit about these things too much…each to […]
Corvid
The original sketch for this was quickly done one morning walking around Uptown Damansara, using felt tips, water and the last dribbles of my coffee. I think over the last two years, I have been contemplating my hasty move from New Zealand to my mother’s home country of Malaysia, and what that meant to me. […]
Contemporary Feminism
Instagram Hoes
Taurus Moon
Lost in a Kisscape The world feels like A crashing car A dying sun I clasp your face Shining colours Eyes with daggers A new-found confidence Luscious The way it tastes All these Starwaves A blooming flower In the moonlight I see your shadows You see mine Soft Cruel A sense of belonging In your […]
Mortality
My Grandpa dwells in Godric’s Hollow, where fellow Practitioners creep Like the oddities Of my sleeping, feverish Fantasies. The bell Tolls for us all and Beyond the knell, I fly deep And follow starlit Clusters to mortal Limits before calling past The sky, one last prayer.
Precision
Anger Issues
Roses for the Dead
Under my skin Sleeps knowledge Unknown Dwelling In the shape Of shadows Restless They press And twist And mould me Slowly Hold me Desolate And Godless Controlled by Bygone ghosts And shame untold; I’m sorry I couldn’t handle who I was I’m sorry I became so self-righteous I’m sorry I couldn’t look in the […]
Trauma Bond
DMs
Well, who the fuck do you think I am? ꚛ It was a feeling. You told me my feelings weren’t real. You told me I had no evidence. Too long, you have used my doubt against me. You have plundered my reality and cast it to chaos. But I can’t lie to myself. […]
A Parable of Waiting Around
Red, red lights simmer all along the street sending omens through the windows. They are scattered like blotched beads against the gritty backdrop, a broken string of prayers. After leaving the lottery place, a man stands stooped at the bus stop. His drive and eagerness lies dormant, coiled inside. Calling out, distant and distorted, his […]
Observations 3; On Distractions
Whether they be Malay, Chinese, Indian or the various, miscellaneous people in Malaysia; they are plodders. And their spatial awareness is worse than mine, which is saying a lot. They stand in the way idly, trying to find Wi-Fi on the escalators. Time is ticking. But there are no clocks in malls, are there?
Okay, You Win
Little Girl
Ode to the West Coast
Endless on my breath is the Ocean! Too easy the inspiration surges As Her Foamy fingers speed toward me I scream I love you I love you I love you As She Washes the grief from my eyes And the guilt from my hands, Naked in the shingles of the world Roaring through […]
Time to Haiku 3
Flipping off mid-storm; Promises frosted over Til Spring consoles us. * Cyclone escapades Open and close my windows, Bringing outside in. * Lonely sinkholes sing Poltergeist passivity, Loathsome and profane.
What Makes a Good Public Space?
INTRO An outcry for the creative revival of public space has emerged in contemporary society. As a result, a surge of refashioning and repurposing our built environment for public use has been illustrated by the reclamation of such places. The landscape of our lives is becoming progressively transformed through architecture, art, technology and infrastructure. These […]
Hunter
Time to Haiku 2;
Trying to slumber. Cumbersome ideas fall In and out of my mind, Flying around my Bedroom – thundering phantoms; I bring them to life!
Turtle Wisdom
The Final Plea
Stale Hate
P.S. I’m not fucking Japanese.
Eat Dust
Overcome
The Bill Henson Case
Before knowing any subsequent information on Bill Henson, I firstly google-imaged his name. My idle search retrieved a scattered ouevre of photographs, running in an aesthetically similar vein; moody and sombre yet delicate like petals. Amongst ominous landscapes and shots of the skies suffused with billowing clouds, several images of youthful nudes against the gloom […]
Time to Haiku
1. My fingers through yours As bullets nuzzle brothers; Float in the bloodstream. 2. Pieces of Corinth Crack the long fragility Of patterned design. 3. Dawn extends her hand Over my burning eyelids. From crawling, I stand.
Just Like Me
Respiration
Tough Love
The Passing
Ouroboros Monologue
I am the dragon. I am a creature of an ancient origin. I am beautiful and wicked. I am to be feared. However, I also fear, as you fear. But I am in love; a love so bottomless, all I do is plunge further and further into the heart of it. And it’s like walking […]
A Conversation with Donald
I caught Donald Abraham at the local mamak before grabbing a coffee at a quieter location. He’d just come from bundle shopping bearing his findings. A down-to-earth, laid back kind of guy, he walked me through some of his latest creative works with humble confidence. His style, although fluid across mediums, is easily recognisable. This […]
PublikArt; Chong Kim Chiew
Iskandar Puteri, formerly known as Nusajaya, is currently undergoing a humungous transformation with many innovative projects taking place there. As it steadily grows into a forward-thinking city, spreading passionate values of sustainability and collaboration amongst its community, the arts have been enthusiastically employed in order to create a place identity. PublikArt is a large public […]
IP Kreatif
Iskandar Puteri, in the state of Johor, is fast emerging as a bubbling hub for the arts and forward-thinking culture in the heart of South East Asia. With a rich history of trade and cultural exchange, it continues to renew this tradition in exciting, new ways. The utopic, two-day festival that was IP Kreatif ran […]
Jamil Zakaria Solo Exhibition Opening – LUBOK
Art Row is usually a peaceful place to chill and wank on about art with a few friends but the opening night of Jamil Zakaria’s installation was a frenzied flurry of upcoming artists and Malaysia’s most talked about. Outside the humble gallery, new and familiar faces were mixing and mingling, carried by the beat of […]
Temiar at Gua Musang
DAY 1 It’s June 6th 2017 at 6:45am, and I’m waiting at the Gombak LRT. I consider my photojournalism project as I wait for videographer and documentary filmmaker, Jules Rahman-Ong to pull up. Initially, huge aesthetic inspiration came from Stephen Dupont’s Raskols. He is one of my favourite photographers. Although his project was perhaps a […]
The Orang Asli Dilemma
I think I slept for about a full twelve hours last night. I meditated. I was then brought a breakfast of roti canai by my aunty and we touched base. For lunch, I went with my cousin and her friend for some real good banana leaf somewhere near PJ. Spoilt for food, am I right? […]
Notice Me
The Island [SHORT STORY]
The largest city on the Island was also the only city. Vincent gazed up at the scale of tightly packed stone that formed a wall around the crumbling structures within. The sun’s crown shimmered like sugared rose petals from behind, defining the silhouettes of the buildings, sharpening them with each passing second. In the beginning, […]
The White House [SHORT STORY]
“As a child I felt myself to be alone, and I am still, because I know things and must hint at things which others apparently know nothing of, and for the most part do not want to know.” ― C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections White gleaming House in the glare of the Sky’s eye. […]