Voices From The Past at the National Art Gallery
The National Art Gallery of Malaysia is currently holding an exhibition based on a book titled: Voices From The Past, authored by Ar Dr Lim Teng Ngiom (Ngiom). The layered history of Southeast Asia is exhibited in the form of five gigantic lanterns hanging from the ceiling.
The National Art Gallery, or Balai Seni Negara, is open from 9am-5pm, with free admission. You can catch the floating installations of this exhibition from now until 30th December.
What is the exhibition about?
Voices From The Past is installed and designed by Octagon Design House. Their exhibition invites you to rewind back in time to Southeast Asia’s 1st century AD to 15th century AD. It covers the history of ancient stone carvings, majestic temples, maritime trade routes, shadow play (wayang kulit), and ancient manuscripts.
The exhibition consists of five giant lanterns, two vertical structures, and one horizontal structure on a stage. Each structure discusses different historical aspects of Southeast Asia’s culture and heritage.
What to expect at the exhibition?
5 gigantic hanging structures
Each of the lantern-like structures showcases ancient stone carvings, significant temples in Southeast Asia, maritime trade routes, shadow play, and war elephants.
Yes, elephants used to be found all over Southeast Asia. These majestic creatures were once trained to be used in battles. War elephants can date as far as 6th century CE to 15th century. Even the Malaccan Kingdom used elephants to battle the Portuguese, back in 1511 AD.
Two vertical structures
Beneath the suspended lanterns are two triangular structures showing Javanese manuscripts and ancient stone writings.
Javanese manuscripts are traditional handwritten documents from the island of Java. They contain writings about philosophy, stories of mythology, chronicles, and even about medicine. Preserving the manuscripts is crucial in keeping centuries of Javanese thought, storytelling, and scholarly practice.
Similarly, ancient stone writings are often used to detail ancient history, religion, and administration of civilisations.
Wayang kulit characters
This horizontal structure is an array of wayang kulit characters. Southeast Asia shares a love for shadow play as entertainment. The ones displayed at this exhibition are mythical warriors, epic heroes, and village chiefs. Both Ramakien and Seri Rama are the Thai and Malay adaptations of the Indian epic, Ramayana.
Listen to the ancient voices
Plenty more are to be learned from this exhibition which you can catch until 30th December 2025. If the exhibition sparked your interest in Southeast Asia’s shared culture and heritage, you’re encouraged to check out Ngiom’s book, Voices From The Past.
Cover image adapted from: TheSmartLocal Malaysia