negaraku ii

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

What does it mean to be Malaysian in today’s world?

Scheduled for August 2025 at Hin Bus Depot in George Town, Penang, negaraku II is the next iteration of an ongoing exhibition series that interrogates questions of Malaysian identity, belonging, and the forces that shape our national consciousness. Curated by Ivan Gabriel and produced by Hin Bus Depot, this edition brings together works from the private collections of Bingley Sim and Ima Norbinsha, two dedicated collectors whose holdings reflect an evident commitment to socially engaged contemporary Malaysian art.

Where the inaugural negaraku established a platform for exploring ideas of nationhood through visual language, negaraku II broadens this conversation, centring the diverse communities, citizens, migrants, and those in between, who collectively animate Malaysia’s ever-shifting identity. In doing so, the exhibition holds space for narratives that are too often marginalised, recognising that our national story is neither monolithic nor static, but instead continuously written by the people who claim this place as home.

In addition to selections from the collectors’ archives, the exhibition will feature newly commissioned works by selected artists, bringing fresh responses to the urgent socio-political questions of our time. Anchored by a robust public programme, the exhibition extends its reach through multilingual guided tours in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, and Sign Language, an intentional gesture towards inclusivity that acknowledges audiences who have historically been left at the edges of cultural discourse.

Beyond the gallery walls, negaraku II embraces the everyday rituals that bind us together, introducing a communal food element as a point of entry into shared memory and conversation. Live demonstrations, including the making of Roti Jala and the preparation of Nasi Ulam, reimagine the exhibition as a space for tasting, storytelling, and intergenerational exchange, reminding us that art, like food, is a conduit for connection.

negaraku II is a provocation to reconsider what it means to belong, and to whom this belonging is extended. It asks us to look again at the faces and stories that shape the life of this country, and to imagine a Malaysia expansive enough to hold all its people, however they arrived here and however they find home.

Admission is free.