Nadiah Bamadhaj was born and raised in Malaysia, educated in Aotearoa New Zealand and currently resides in Indonesia. At the heart of her practice is a desire to unravel the intersections of her identity and the sociopolitical environments she has experienced throughout her life. In her formative years, growing up in Malaysia with her Malay Muslim father, Pākehā New Zealand mother, and brother and sister, navigating the rigid boundaries of cultural identity, religion and politics was a point of contention for the Bamadhaj family. In Yogyakarta, where the artist has been based since 2002, Bamadhaj continues to contend with perceptions of herself as an outsider.

Bamadhaj has become known for a charcoal collage technique developed across the span of her career. The artist starts by photographing a composition of objects and materials, then renders the resulting image in layers of charcoal to create dynamic wall-installations. The resulting works are ensembles that seamlessly connect these material processes.

Kin 2024, created for the Asia Pacific Triennial, was developed through this multilayered process and weaves together aspects of Bamadhaj’s identity, memory and family history. The work consists of five charcoal portraits of her family, in which each subject is depicted clothed in batik — Javanese wax‑resist dyed fabric, and a cultural and national symbol of Indonesia. Batik motifs carry specific meanings for their wearer, pointing towards a person’s hopes, dreams or prayers for a better life. Bamadhaj’s batik motifs, however, in her words, ‘are statements as opposed to hopes’, and her figures are depicted mid-flight as a general symbol for migration, experienced by everyone in this family portrait.¹ The statements she makes suggest a layered perspective of each identity. In Kin, the artist processes the life paths, beliefs and struggles that her family shared, as well as the differences and psychological rifts between them.

In two works dedicated to her father and mother, Bamadhaj captures aspects of their life circumstances. The Albatross, dedicated to her father, references the idiom ‘an albatross around your neck’.² Through the albatross, Bamadhaj acknowledges not only the trials her father faced in his life, but also the birthplace of her mother in Aotearoa New Zealand, where the albatross is an endemic species. In Migrant, depicting the outline of her mother’s birth country, Bamadhaj considers the meaning of migrating, not only in terms of moving geographical location, but also between her mother’s various identities: from wife, to mother, teacher, journalist, activist, social worker, business owner and cancer survivor.

In depicting herself and her siblings, Bamadhaj draws on the fractures of their lives, most poignantly the untimely death of her brother, and her sister’s ongoing struggle with trauma. The work Dissected Heart is a tribute to her brother, Kamal Bamadhaj, who was killed in the Dili Massacre in 1991.³ The heart depicted represents the rupture of losing a family member in tragic circumstances. Similarly, Sliced depicts a razor blade with a keyhole, alluding to the idea of being vulnerable to intense experiences and emotions. Representing Bamadhaj herself, The Unmentionable Child's Toy depicts a doll with overtly racialised features. The toy is a symbol of the complexities of the artist’s own identity-making.

These portraits acknowledge the intersections of identity and the ways in which the concept is complicated by surrounding factors and environments. Kin is a vulnerable, nuanced and captivating family portrait that gracefully unravels the intertwinements of the people, places and things that have shaped Bamadhaj.

Endnotes

1. Nadiah Bamadhaj, artist statement, 2024.
2. This phrase implies carrying a burden of guilt that becomes an obstacle to success.
3. On 12 November 1991, an estimated 250 people peacefully protesting East Timorese independence were killed by the Indonesian military. The victims were participating in a memorial procession of a pro-independence supporter and the cancelled visit of a UN human rights envoy and members of the Portuguese Parliament.