Belas Masa—
May We... Exhibition
Graphic Design, Installation Design
Ali Alasri, Yiky Chew, The Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur
2021
Belas Masa is an act of remembrance, inviting reflection on fragmented sources—memories, artefacts, and documents—that continue to represent the events of 13 May 1969 in Kuala Lumpur. Presented as part of the May We... exhibition, the work explores the younger generation’s perspective on the incident.
Conceived by Ali Alasri in collaboration with Yiky Chew and Bryan Chang, the piece reimagines stories and traces as pages from a vernacular Chinese daily calendar, articulating the fractured nature of a tragic past.
The series comprised 13 pages, each featuring a compilation of fragments printed on newsprint. These were stacked on pedestals of varying heights, softly lit to evoke a sense of nostalgia, while the ambient sounds of the city street outside filtered into the space—connecting past and present through atmosphere.