A Day in the Life: Umar Sharif

Unravelling the codes of Malaysian boyhood

A Day in the Life is a series by A&M where we invite artists to share a day in their life through images accompanied by brief descriptions.

Umar Sharif.

Umar Sharif is a Kuala Lumpur-based artist whose work transforms everyday objects into sculptures that explore gender and identity. For his most recent show, he created an installation using the black polypropylene belts required in Malaysian schools, metamorphosing them into a series of hairstyles that evoke the glossy aesthetic of salon lookbooks. Titled Asuhan dan Dandanan (2025) and made through an intensive process that mirrors the rituals of hair care, the work is on view at the Ilham Art Show 2025 at Ilham Gallery from 2 November 2025 to 5 April 2026. In this article, Umar discusses the transformation of these regulatory objects and the cultural references that informed his approach.

Umar Sharif, Asuhan dan Dandanan, 2025, Malaysian school belts, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of Kenta Chai and Ilham Gallery.

My most recent body of work currently on show at Ilham Gallery. It is a row of surreal objets d'art made of the regulation polypropylene belts mostly worn by boys for school in Malaysia. In this work, the belts transform halfway into locks of hair of various styles.

Umar Sharif, Asuhan dan Dandanan, 2025, Malaysian school belts, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of Kenta Chai and Ilham Gallery.

I find it such a subversive act to transform this emblematic object of Malaysian boyhood into something feminine. It reminds me of hairstyle images and samples one would see at a local beauty parlour. A friend joked that my work was a literal “salon” hang. 

Studio situation during the making of Asuhan dan Dandanan. Image courtesy of artist.

My studio became a makeshift salon for a few months during the making of the work. I washed, conditioned, detangled, ironed and curled the unraveled polypropylene fibres until it looked like hair.

Various hair inspirations, mostly from movies in the 90s and YouTube hair tutorials. Movie stills from Death Becomes Her, Stepford Wives, Batman, The Witches, Interview with a Vampire, Amadeus, Mars Attack, and still from a Youtube silkpress tutorial. Image courtesy of the artist.

Growing up, I was deeply captivated by the Hollywood portrayal of big beautiful hair. I also loved the disheveled hair of heroines struggling or villainesses being put in their place. Both are equally glamorous to me. When I am styling the "hair-belts", I usually have these sorts of images in mind.

Before and after the conditioning treatment process of the belt fibres. Image courtesy of the artist.

The belt fibres go through a rigorous conditioning treatment before being detangled and eventually ironed to silky straightness. I see this process as analogous to the cycle of destruction and preservation, with “destruction” being the fibre's unraveling and rather violent detangling, and “preservation” in their nurturing treatment, styling and maintenance. 

Follow Umar on Instagram at @umar_shhh to see more of his works.