Ahmad Fuad Osman
Di suatu masa dulu...,
2016 - 2021 (ongoing)
16th century Ming bowls and spoon, snuff bottle, leather pouch, 13th century
celadon bowl, 16th century Portuguese coins and China’s Malacca tin coins,
Indo-Portuguese casket, Malacca code of law, vinyl, single-channel video
Variable Dimensions
Writing about Ahmad Fuad Osman, curator Shabbir Hussain Mustafa describes the artist’s practice as exemplary of the “aggregate”--“a method of working that activates anachronisms, collectivities, sympathies, and commonalities, bringing them all together in a single place as an articulation of the predicament of globalization.” Making use of archive, history, and fiction, Osman’s research-based practice traverses the terrain of the Malay archipelago, a region connected by the South China Sea and flanked by the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. For this exhibition, Osman presents two projects. The first project is a site-specific reiteration of his expansive research on Enrique de Malacca, Ferdinand Magellan’s Malay slave and his crew member in his attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Enrique was crucial in Magellan’s expedition to the Spice Islands, serving as a guide and interpreter. For this reiteration, Osman presents a selection of archival objects that flesh out the importance of Malacca, the place where Enrique was from, in the Age of Discovery during the 16th century. The second work expands on the Southeast Asian contexts of the Age of Discovery and looks at the life and time of Shaykh Yusuf of Makassar, a 17th century Sufi scholar who was exiled from Makassar to South Africa by the Dutch East India Company. Shaykh Yusuf was one part of the Orang Cayen, Muslim men of wealth and influence who were exiled to the Cape of Good Hope because of the threat they posed to the Dutch colonial administration. The Orang Cayen was instrumental in the formation of the Muslim community in the Cape, eventually known as “Cape Malay.” Osman presents in this exhibition his research in progress on the Cape comprising of video interviews of Makassar locals on the legacy of Shaykh Yusuf.
Ahmad Fuad Osman (b. 1969 in Kedah, Malaysia) graduated with a BA in Fine Art from MARA Institute of Technology (UITM) in 1991. In the 1990’s Fuad was involved in the Malaysia film and theater industry, and this period influenced a shift in his artistic practice from Neoexpressionist painting to conceptual multi-disciplinary works encompassing installation, sculpture, print, and video. Socio-political themes have long been a key concern as he investigates subject matters including identity politics, the abuse of power, and historical amnesia.
Recent years have shown a conceptual turn for Fuad with an interest in the veracity of truths, alternate histories, and contesting or reinterpreting of existing histories. This characteristic comes through in Recollections of Long Lost Memories (2007/2008), which won Jurors’ Choice Award at the APBF Signature Art Prize (2008) in Singapore, and his more recent work, Enrique de Malacca Memorial Project, shown in 2016 at the Singapore Biennale and shown again at the 2019 Sharjah Biennale. Drawing on historical accounts, texts, and archives, Fuad pieces together fragments of evidence and conflicting narratives, finding creative ways to fill in gaps. As such his recent practice not only reconsiders historical narratives, but opens up possibilities of contesting and rewriting established canons.
Fuad has exhibited internationally including Blackout at Kunsthal Rotterdam 2019; Leaving The Echo Chamber, Sharjah Biennale 2019; An Atlas of Mirrors, Singapore Biennale, 2016; Multiple Languages, Silverlens Gallery, Makati, Philippines, 2014; Welcome to the Jungle: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia From the Collection of Singapore Art Museum, Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan, 2013; and, participated in residencies including the Vermont Studio Centre, USA (2004), Goyang National Art Studio, South Korea (2005 – 2006) and Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia (2007 – 2008). His works can be found in the collections of National Visual Art Gallery (Malaysia), Petronas Gallery (Malaysia) and Singapore Art Museum, among others.
