SEARCH Vol. 1: Independence

As a nation, the notion of independence is the freedom from being controlled, governed, or ruled by another entity. Most of the Southeast Asian countries are relatively young nations, having experienced an extensive period of colonisation before gaining full independence half a century ago. Post-independence, and we are only beginning to grapple with and unravel the threads of our history. We are also witnessing the emergence of new identities, cultures, narratives, ways of being; and how it has affected contemporary art and design practice across the region.
The core value and common belief within independence is about having a distinct identity, voice and independent thinking. As an individual, independence is self-sufficiency, self-standing, having the freedom of creation and speech, and free from depending or being influenced by others.
Guided by their own views, values, and experiences rather than someone else's. Independent thinkers have the confidence to draw on their own innate intelligence and personal observations.
In our inaugural first issue, we explore various facets of
'Independence'. We also take a look at the free-spirited creatives by speaking to the independent thinkers who continue to push the boundaries of creative expression.

Contributing Writers
JOANNE CHEW
Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Joanne Chew is a visual storyteller, graphic artist, creative director and aspiring writer. A graduate of Parsons the New School for Design in New York and having worked in several boutique design firms in New York and Singapore, she now runs Fictionist Studio, a multi-disciplinary design studio specialising in all platforms which involve the birth of an idea. Her writings have been published in Design Observer, Singapore's The Design Society Journal and China's Design 360* Magazine.
www.fictionistudio.com

NEW NARATIF
New Naratif is a movement for democracy, freedom of information, and freedom of expression in Southeast Asia. It publishes journalism, research, comics, podcasts, and videos in Southeast Asian languages and runs democracy classrooms and workshops, aiming to educate and empower Southeast Asians with information and skills to create positive change in their communi-ties. It fights for the dignity and freedom of the Southeast Asian people by building a community of people across the region to imagine and articulate a better Southeast Asia. Based in Kuala Lumpur, it is supported entirely through memberships, grants, and donations.
www.newnaratif.com

SHANE TAN
Shane has been deeply involved in the independent music industry for more than 13 years. He is the manager of Malaysia Live House and indie music label. In addition to writing the music articles for his own blog
"Dong Tai Du" in the early days, he also started contributing to the music column of Mint magazine in 2011. Currently he is also one of the writers of the online music
magazine "Ziyin Pictorial”滋音圖報
www.livefact.my

SHARON CHIN
Sharon Chin (b.1980, Petaling Jaya) is an artist living in Port Dickson, Malaysia.
She has made paintings, performances, costumes, sculptures, installations and videos, and worked across a variety of fields, including fine art, criticism, illustration, film, and journalism. Her work has been shown in museums and galleries, on sidewalks and in shopping malls, in Malaysia and around the world. Recently, she illustrated Zedeck Siew's short story collection Creatures of Near Kingdoms, available now from Maple Comics.
Her work is in the permanent collections of Singapore Art Museum and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA).
www.sharonchin.com

TAN ZI HAO
Tan Zi Hao is an artist, writer, and researcher.
His works explore the discourse of power in colonial and postcolonial contexts, probing the disjuncture in the production and contestation of history, culture, and linguistic ideologies. He completed his PhD in Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, undertaking fieldwork research on animal imagery in the Islamic art of Cirebon, West Java. Together with type collective Huruf, he undertakes research on the entangled history of multilingualism and translation during the formative years of Malaysia.
www.tanzihao.net

WILLIAM YUEN
Brand Director - @futuremade_studio
Curator - @lifeis.morethanhype
Founder - @the_selected_official
Co Founder - @kickson_my
#又唔潮又無聊
instagram.com/williamgoodmorning

SHERRINA KRISHNAN, VIRGIL AND JO-CHAN
These three friends of Yasmin are arguably the most imperfect human specimens on earth. And they are grateful to Yasmin for sayang-ing them anyway and dragging them into her world and entertaining them with her shoebox - which was designed by Joanne Chew into the world's first shoebox book entitled "Yasmin I lup chew". Sherrina was one of the actors in Yasmin's film "Talentime". Virgil and Jo-chan whom Yasmin also nicknamed
"Jovian M.D." (M.D.= manic depressive), were colleagues of Yasmin in her days in Ogilvy & Mather and Leo Burnett. These three monkeys are still imperfect, still trying to follow Yasmin's crazy advice, and think Yasmin is still alive - just that she's somewhere else.