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Mahen Bala

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Tag: journalism

Posted on November 3, 2019November 3, 2019

City Lights – A photo series

A city is a built environment, a physical manifestation of our dreams, desires, insecurities, achievements and failings. It is inorganic, unnatural in every way, geared towards an ever-expanding capacity to consume, exploit and overwhelm everything to its very limits. It is only acceptable then that we do the same to ourselves. Kuala Lumpur, 31 October …

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Posted on October 23, 2019October 24, 2019

Remembering Razak Mansions

My first encounter with the residential complex had been accidental, stumbling upon it while tracing the Kerayong River from its source to confluence as part of a documentary project on Klang Valley's river network. The second visit was to photograph the area, and by the third visit, all the blocks had been demolished. The residents …

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Posted on October 19, 2019January 21, 2020

Imagined landscapes

Kampung Tanjung, Kuala Terengganu The last time I was here, the house was shrouded in darkness. I could barely see the tail light of a motorcycle, streaking to a halt between the stilts. The house stood alone on an empty plot of land, or rather the land around the house had been cleared. I promised …

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Posted on October 12, 2019October 19, 2019

A land without memory

A forest has no history. It remembers no beginning, follows no moral, worships no God. Trees fall and sprout anew, rivers flood and dry out, animals kill and then they themselves die, all part of a perpetual state of unguided renewal. Churning itself anew for more than 130 million years, Taman Negara is a 4,343 …

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Instagram

When durian was in season my dad would bring home gunny sacks filled with durian from the farms he visited. We had so much fruits that sometimes that was all we had for dinner. A buffet of durian and mangosteen. Naturally there was plenty leftover and mum must have learned how to make this dish from my Malay relatives. At home we called it pulut durian, and I ate bowls of it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
A stranger sits down at my table and offers me a glass of water.
Art has the potential to move us in unpredictable ways. Sometimes they make us laugh, at both ourselves and the world. Sometimes they nudge us out of our comfort zones, invoking unfamiliar thoughts and emotions. And sometimes they leave us drained and dead inside. But don’t worry, everything will be ok.

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