Chinese Malaysian Minstrel Kuik was born in Pantai Remis, Malaysia in 1976. Due to the racial quota that restricts national university access to native Malaysians, her country ‘exported’ her to Taiwan, like many other Chinese students. After her bachelor’s degree in painting, she emigrated to France, where she had to complete another course in order to enrol at the Arles School of Photography (ENP) from which she would graduate in 2006 with a European Masters degree. Driven by a desire to understand, deconstruct and reinvent the notions of the family home, cultural identity and photographic expression, Kuik bases her work on snapshots she takes of her family, her hometown and the area she lives in. Apart from Malaysia, she has exhibited in Indonesia, Europe and the United States. Although Southeast Asia is located at a cultural crossroads, photographers native to this part of the world have seldom focused on its hybrid nature or integrated it into their personal experiences.
This makes Kuik an exception, even though she has spent twelve years abroad. “In Malaysia, we don’t speak so much about culture. Food is at the heart of our concerns. It has become a kind of cultural landmark to me. My mother handed down many things, including her style of cooking and a taste for fish. I eat everything, wherever I go. I have a mixed culture.”
Kuik’s diversity is also manifest in the fact she feels no particular affinity with any photographic tradition. With Mer.rily, Mer.rily, Mer.rily, Mer.rily, a series begun upon her return to Malaysia in late 2006, she incorporates various approaches and attaches great importance to editing her images through an organic, thoughtful process. At times diary-like, at other times more deliberately composed, her images are all packed with references. Raw fish and tropical fruit are photographed as ‘found’ installations and reveal links between sculpture and photography. Kuik’s arm, outstretched on top of a row of mandarins – a symbol of Chinese culture – evokes the recurring notion of Chinese Malaysians separated from their roots. The alienation Kuik has experienced in regard to her roots is reflected in the alienation brought about by a constant exploration of her obsessions through photography, as she distances herself from the standard expectations regarding her position as a woman, teacher and artist.
Gilles Massot, Wubin Zhuang, curators
Text from the catalogue-book “Photoquai”, co-edited by Musée du Quai Branly- Actes-Sud
