Latiff Mohidin: Pago Pago (1960–1969)

Malaysian artist Latiff Mohidin’s life work has been discussed extensively within national and, to some extent, regional frameworks, yet his contribution to global modernism remains understudied. This publication seeks to address this gap, positioning the artist within Berlin art circles of the 1960s as well as the cultural, political and art historical milieus of Southeast Asia. Besides presenting in full colour and rich detail 81 works from Latiff Mohidin’s critically acclaimed Pago Pago series, it also features an anthology of texts that discuss the artist’s painterly and poetic practice. These are further accompanied by an extensive interview with Latiff Mohidin that took place over a two-year period. ??

Publisher: National Gallery Singapore
Author Biography: Shabbir Hussain Mustafa is Senior Curator at the National Gallery Singapore, where he oversees Between Declarations and Dreams, a long-term exhibition that surveys art about Southeast Asia from the 19th century to the present day. From 2013 to 2015, he was lead curator of Siapa Nama Kamu? (What is Your Name?), the Gallery’s other long-term exhibition that focuses on art in Singapore from the late 19th century onwards. Prior to joining the National Gallery, he was curator (South-Southeast Asia) at the National University of Singapore Museum (NUS Museum), where his approach centred on deploying archival texts as ploys in engaging different modes of thinking and writing. It was at the NUS Museum that he initiated the critically acclaimed accumulative projects Camping and Tramping through The Colonial Archive: The Museum in Malaya (2011–2013), The Sufi and The Bearded Man: Re-membering a Keramat in Contemporary Singapore (2010–2012), and co-conceived the experimental space prep room | things that may or may not happen (2012–ongoing). In 2013, he curated In Search of Raffles’ Light | An Art Project with Charles Lim, a three-year collaboration with the artist that tracked the immaterial, mundane and irreconcilable traces surrounding Singapore’s fractured relationship with the sea. He curated SEA STATE with Lim for the Singapore Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale. Mustafa writes often, at times about the methodological considerations for the rethinking of curatorial practice in Singapore, and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics, Singapore Section. Catherine DAVID (France) is the Deputy Director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. From 1982 to 1990, David was curator at the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and from 1990 to 1994 she was curator at the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris. From 1994 to 1997, David served as Artistic Director for documenta X in Kassel (1997). Since 1998, she has been director of the long-term project Contemporary Arab Representations, which began at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona. Between 2002 and 2004, David was director of the Witte de With Center of Contemporary Art in Rotterdam. In 2016, David curated Reframing Modernism at the National Gallery Singapore, which brought together over 200 iconic works from the collections of the National Gallery Singapore and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Language: English
Country of Origin: Singapore
Page count: 214
Binding: Hardback
Search words: Latiff Mohidin, Berlin, Pago Pago, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, Poetry