At this year’s OzAsia Festival, graphic designer and political activist Fahmi Reza will have his captivating free exhibition, Punk Protest Propaganda: The Political Art of Fahmi Reza on display at Nexus Gallery. Not only will this free work be on display between October 19 and November 5, but Reza will also be performing in a companion piece, A Notional History.
In A Notional History, a performer, a journalist, and an activist excavate school textbooks, inherited memories, and video interviews of exiled revolutionaries – uncovering erasures, exclusions and questions around the Malayan Emergency. They investigate and speculate on the possible histories for a different Malaysia, intersecting the personal, the national, and the notional.
Fahmi Reza spoke to Glam about both works and what drew him to performing and design.
“My love for design began in my teenage years, sparked by my passion for punk music. This influence is evident in my work, which draws heavily from punk graphics, aesthetics, and attitude. I immersed myself in punk during high school, embracing it as an outlet during my rebellious adolescence. My initial foray into graphic design occurred in college when I created flyers and posters for punk gigs. I discovered my love for performing while playing live shows with my hardcore punk band in the early 2000s. Rather than viewing design and performing as careers, I see them as powerful tools for expressing and communicating important political ideas and messages to a broader audience.”
Over the years, Reza has produced thousands of political graphics as well as many documentary films. Reza shared how important it is for him to get messages across to an audience through his films and designs.
“I see myself as an activist designer and a design provocateur, using my art and design as a weapon to fight against injustice. Throughout history, political graphics and protest posters have always played an important role in people’s struggle for social change. Posters can inspire and motivate, serving as a tool to raise awareness and to wake people up. It can move people to take action. As a medium of protest, they also act as a catalyst for social change. I see the work that I do as a continuation of this revolutionary tradition of graphic dissent and visual disobedience.”
A Notional History is set to be a moving and powerful piece of theatre.
“I have always been interested in the history of protests, uprisings, revolutions, and the people’s struggle for radical change. However, in Malaysia, most of these stories and histories get sidelined and erased from our nation’s official history. This led me to produce the short documentary film, ’10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka’ (10 Years Before Independence), which explores the general strike of 1947. I also created the documentary lecture-performance ‘Student Power,’ which delves into the rise of the radical student protest movement in Malaysia during the 1960s. In addition, I’ve collaborated with Mark Teh on several history-related documentary theatre projects in the past, including ‘Baling’ and ‘Version 2020.’ A Notional History is our latest documentary theatre project that continues along this path.”
Reza hopes that audiences find something meaningful after seeing A Notional History.
“I hope that audiences can see that much of official history is propaganda, and that all history textbooks are constructed by the authors and the state, presenting the official national narrative of those currently in power. For this reason, history textbooks will always be incomplete. There will always be gaps and blanks that need to be filled, not only by historians, but also by ordinary people like us.”
Reza’s Punk Protest Propaganda: The Political Art of Fahmi Reza will also be on display at Nexus Gallery.
“Punk Protest Propaganda: The Political Art of Fahmi Reza is a retrospective exhibition that offers an introductory glimpse into my 20-year journey of utilising art and design as tools for protest and activism in my home country, Malaysia. As a politically conscious graphic designer, I have openly criticised the government in my work and have faced arrests, bans, and prosecution for my art and activism. I am passionate about merging art and activism as a means of exploring the power of art as a vehicle for promoting political discourse and igniting social change.”
A Notional History
Friday 3 November at 7.30pm and Saturday 4 November at 5.30pm
Nexus Arts
https://ozasia.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/whats-on/a-notional-history
Punk Protest Propaganda: The Political Art of Fahmi Reza
19 October and 5 November
Nexus Gallery
Free
https://ozasia.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/whats-on/the-political-art-of-fahmi-reza
Photo credit: Komunitas Salihara – Witjak Widi
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