Vendredi 31 Juillet 2015 11:29:27 par Thierry Côté dans Expositions

Totem is a series of black & white and colour portraits captured with an 8x10 inch view camera. It started as an inquiry into the role of tradition in the modern world, by way of traditional costumes worn by Malaysian contemporary women. It became an exploration of Diana’s own ideas of Malaysian-ness.

© Diana Lui, Totem

Her research started in Morocco, culminating in an exhibition at the Arab World Institute in Paris last year. Inspired by the photography of famous French psychiatrist Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault, she documented recurring patterns in Morocco and Tunisia's traditional costumes. As her research deepened, she saw similarities in costumes from Malaysia and decided to explore further the universal semantics of the traditional costume which has been influenced for centuries by civilisations along the Silk Route between China and the Mediterranean Sea.

© Diana Lui, Totem

Lui is Malaysian-Chinese. She grew up in Malaysia and spent three decades in the United States and Europe working and studying. The new direction of her research became an opportunity to reconcile with the country she grew up in, as well as to revisit the role of Malaysian women; to see how it has evolved from what she remembered it to be.


Diana Lui (b. 1968, Malaysia) graduated with a BA in Photography and Fine Art from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California. Her works are widely recognised by many established art and photography institutions in Asia and Europe. Diana’s photographs can be seen in numerous permanent collections such as the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Guangdong Museum of Art and Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi. In 2008, the Shanghai Museum awarded her the residency and scholarship of Concours du Consulat de France. She currently lives and works in France.