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Straight Takes

These nine photographers represent a small but important group of Malaysian photographers who are actively pushing this medium to a wider range of subject and audience. This group uses their pictures to address (directly or indirectly); the complex issues of what are art and reality, sense and sensibility and inclusion and exclusion.

The group still cares, in varying degree, about uniform sharpness and tonal qualities of their pictures. They cross the thin line between staged and snapshot aesthetics. Some of them do a certain amount of retouching (manually or digitally). There is of course an element of repetitious and imitative visualization in this assembly. Many of these photographs are eloquent in their own way in expressing what is genuine (to be included) and what is artificial (to be excluded).

Guest curator: Victor Chin