Join us for the preview of 'Smooth Sailing, 一路順風', the first institutional solo exhibition by Marcos Kueh — an emerging artist from Sarawak, Borneo Malaysia, who currently lives and works in the Netherlands.
Find out more about Kueh's practice, which centres on textiles as a medium for storytelling, exploring themes of identity, labour, and globalisation.
The initial phase of the exhibition in the Communal Project Space features three richly layered textile works —‘Woven Talisman #1: The Millionaire’, ‘Woven Talisman #3: The Birthday Boy’, and ‘Woven Scroll: Under God’s Eye.’
These works originate from the 2023 iteration of Kueh’s ongoing series ‘Three Contemporary Prosperities’ — a project that reimagines the traditional Chinese deities Fú 福, Lù 祿, Shòu 壽, evolving with each display.
Kueh will discuss his work, and a major new installation, also titled 'Smooth Sailing, 一路順風’, which will debut in the Gallery space in early November.
Advance booking for this free event is recommended due to limited capacity.
‘Smooth Sailing, 一路順風’ is co-commissioned by esea contemporary, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT), Hong Kong SAR. The exhibition is generously supported by the Mondriaan Fund, the Henry Moore Foundation, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Galerie Ron Mandos, Arts Council England, and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Marcos Kueh is an artist from Sarawak, Borneo Malaysia, currently living and working in the Netherlands. His practice centres on textiles as a medium for storytelling, drawing from Borneo’s ancestral weaving traditions to explore themes of identity, labour, and globalisation.
Growing up in a post-colonial developing country, Kueh has long been engaged with questions of identity and how Malaysia is perceived – whether through colonial depictions in museums or stylised narratives in tourism advertising. His work seeks to reconcile these representations with his lived experience growing up in Borneo, navigating the pressures of modernity and globalisation. He uses weaving to encode contemporary legends from everyday life, just as the ancestors of Borneo did with their dreams and stories before the arrival of written alphabets from the West.
Kueh holds a Bachelor’s in Graphic and Textile Design from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, completed in 2022. That same year, he was awarded the Ron Mandos Young Blood Award, and in 2023 he was named Young Designer of the Year by the Dutch Design Awards. His works are held in the collections of Museum Voorlinden and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Recent exhibitions include Manifesta 15 in Barcelona; Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam; The Backroom, Kuala Lumpur; and the National Art Gallery Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.
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