Marcos Kueh

Growing up in a post-colonial developing country, Marcos Kueh has always been fascinated about his identity as Malaysian and his place in the larger discourses of the West. His practice mainly revolves around using textiles as a tool to encapsulate day-to-day stories that he finds meaningful - just as the ancestors of Borneo did with their dreams and legends, before the arrival of written alphabets from the West. In many of his artistic research projects, he explores the spectacle of how his country is being perceived - from colonial descriptions in anthropological museums around the world to marketing texts in tourism advertisements, versus his lived experiences as a human from a small town in Borneo, navigating through mundane expectations to progress as a modern citizen in a gradual, uniform, globalized world. These perspectives shape the fundamental worldviews of how he participates and contributes to discussions.

Kueh started his artistic career in 2022 when he was awarded the Ron Mandos Young Blood Award, and his works were acquired by Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar, and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Some key exhibitions where his works have been included are the Rijswijk Textile Biennale, the 15th edition of the Manifesta Biennale in Barcelona, Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam, and the National Art Gallery Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. Kueh has also participated in Art Rotterdam, the Armory Show in New York, ASIANOW in Paris, Unknown Asia in Osaka, Art Jakarta, and ArtSG in Singapore.