Izat Arif
2025
Three single channel videos, colour, sound,
47 sec; 1 min; 1 min 13 sec Soil, wood, three structures,
120 cm x 220 cm x 40 cm each
Co-produced by ILHAM and KADIST
2025
The clouds turned to the shining moon
Its light is clear and natural
Becoming bright in this forest of thorns
When you encounter bad luck
It is not the fault of inevitable destiny
It is the lack (of) one's own effort.
A reader submitted poem to the magazine Peneroka: Majalah
Peladang-Peladang LKT
Malaysia's Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) was founded in 1956 to resettle rural landless poor into smallholder plantation colonies. It was one of the most successful poverty alleviation programmes of the 20th century, lifting an entire generation into the middle class. FELDA was not merely a land programme, but also a biopolitical one. Programme administrators saw settlers as an opportunity to build a new model of citizen, enshrining the virtues of responsibility, hard work, and gratitude to the state.
Izat Arif invites audiences to see the thankful masses through the lens, and heights, of three orang besar ("great men"), namely Tun Abdul Razak, who spearheaded FELDA; Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States; and Suharto, President of Indonesia. (FELDA renamed settlements to Kampung LBJ and Kampung Soeharto in honour of their respective state visits in 1966 and 1970.) With footage drawn from archives and films, Tuan Tanah (Land Lord) calls attention to the social contract of gratitude between state and settler.
“The Plantation Plot”, Max Crosbie Jones, e-flux Criticism, 2025.
Kuala Lumpur: The Plantation Plot, Innas Tsuroiya, ArtAsiaPacific, 2025
Images courtesy of Kenta Chai and artist