Self-portraiture as a body of water
A&M Fresh Face is where we profile an emerging artist from the region every month and speak to them about how they kick-started their career, how they continue to sustain their practice and what drives them as artists.
Nadirah Zakariya. Photo by All Is Amazing.
Nadirah Zakariya is a Kuala Lumpur-based photographer who uses the camera to sit with feeling and change. Her subjects can be a sister, a flower, a river, or her own skin. She graduated with a BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York in 2010. After returning to Malaysia, she co-founded the women-led studio Layar Lucida and the Exposure+ Photo Festival. Nadirah presented solo exhibitions at the Leica Gallery, temu house and The Back Room in Kuala Lumpur. She has also participated in residencies for the Two Mountains Project at the Tenjinyama Artist Residency (2024) in Sapporo, Hokkaido and the 6okken Artist Residency (2025) at Oishi, Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi, both supported by the Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur.
Nadirah Zakariya, Feeling Feelings Makes Me, Me 2023, installation view at temu house in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. Photo by Ameirfikri. Image courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
Her solo exhibitions read as chapters of one long self-portrait. Daughters Ago (2011), shown at the Lomography Gallery Store in New York, and GIRLHOOD (2016) at the Leica Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, explored sisterhood and growing up as a woman. Feeling Feelings Makes Me, Me (2023), consisting of nearly 40 works at temu house in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, addressed emotions and her life with vitiligo, an autoimmune condition in which patches of skin lose their pigment. Across framed prints, lightboxes and a video piece, the show brought together new flower still-lifes beside photographs of her hands adorned with sequins, jewels, henna and Jawi script.
Nadirah Zakariya, Air Mata Air, 2025, installation view at The Back Room, Kuala Lumpur. Photo by All Is Amazing. Image courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
For her most recent solo exhibition, Air Mata Air (2025) at The Back Room in Kuala Lumpur, Nadirah brings the body and water together. The exhibition takes its title from a play on Malay words: air mata means tears, mata air a natural spring, which is also an old-fashioned term for sweetheart or beloved. The title holds grief, nourishment and love in a single pair of words. In the exhibition, lengths of printed fabric descend from the ceiling and settle on the floor, each paired with a double-sided light box that anchors each fabric in place. The fabric enlarges a photograph of her skin or of water almost to abstraction that it becomes difficult to tell apart.
Nadirah Zakariya, Air Mata Air, 2025, installation view at The Back Room, Kuala Lumpur. Image courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
One of the works, ever shifting, ever fluid (2025), shows a length of fabric printed with dark water, its surface catching bursts of sunlight. On one side of the corresponding lightbox, a close view of the artist’s body carries the title, written with pearl-headed pins, placed free-hand in a looping, slightly uneven cursive. On the other side, Nadirah’s hands are submerged in water, and across them the pins spell ever tender, ever wild. The images with the fabric work together to create a visual metaphor — pale patches on skin can be read as glints on the water, and like a river’s surface, is never quite the same twice.
Nadirah Zakariya, ever shifting, ever fluid, 2025, pearl-pinned text on lightbox (double-sided) and printed fabric, 40 × 60cm (lightbox), 12 × 3ft (fabric). Images courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
Nadirah considers the exhibition a love letter to herself. Over the past 16 years, her work has documented the ebb and flow of a body that keeps its own record of time. She neither conceals these changes nor dramatises them, but regards them with the curiosity and patience of the lens.
Interview
In 2010, you graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Could you describe your experience during this period, both the education you received and the cohort you interacted with?
The years I spent in New York City were some of the most formative years of my life as an artist. I felt like a sponge, soaking in different perspectives, cultures and ways of thinking, both inside and outside the classroom. Being surrounded by people from different backgrounds made me more curious and observant, and pushed me to see the world differently.
Being away from home also made me question my sense of belonging and identity. It made me more aware of what it meant to be Malaysian and how my upbringing shaped the way I see the world. In many ways, being away from home made me look at home differently. These are questions that continue to inform my practice today, as I explore themes of identity, memory, intimacy and belonging.
From the series “hatsuyume”, 2025. Image courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
Who has been a mentor or an important artistic influence in your development as a photographer? And why?
Besides the many amazing artists and photographers, I find inspiration from the people in my life, especially women. I am drawn to women who express themselves freely, are not afraid to be themselves, and are in tune with their feelings. Hearing their stories and seeing how they navigate life in their own ways inspires me. I think these everyday encounters and the people I surround myself with have shaped my perspective just as much as the artists I admire.
Nadirah at work. Photo by All Is Amazing. Image courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
What was one important piece of advice you were given?
A photographer friend of mine, Stevie Chan, once told me something along the lines of how clicking the shutter is like a heartbeat. It is a reminder that you are alive and present in that moment. It does not matter if the photograph comes out blurry or imperfect, just capture it anyway. I love that reminder because sometimes, in the process of making work, we get so caught up in getting things right that we forget to simply be present.
“It is a reminder that you are alive and present in that moment. It does not matter if the photograph comes out blurry or imperfect, just capture it anyway.”
Nadirah and team at the Exposure+ Photo Festival in Kuala Lumpur. Image courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
Beyond your personal practice, you co-founded Layar Lucida, an award-winning women-led creative studio, and Exposure+ Photo Festival in Kuala Lumpur. How do you balance these roles, and do they inform or affect your work as an artist?
I do not really see these roles as separate from one another. Everything I do complements the other aspects of my life and career, and one thing often informs the other. Being a producer helps me become a more disciplined photographer, and being a photographer makes me a better creative producer. Working with different people across different projects has also taught me a lot about people, how they think, how they work, and how to communicate with them.
All these experiences feed into my personal practice in ways I may not always realise. They keep me curious, expose me to different perspectives, and allow me to keep learning. My experience as a producer and photographer has also definitely helped me co-run Exposure+ Photo Festival.
I have so much fun with the different projects I take on. Of course, it is not always easy, and each role comes with its own challenges. Sometimes, after spending a long time on a film set with a team, I find myself craving time alone to focus on my own photography and personal projects. In a way, that is what makes it work for me. Each role gives me something different, and together, they give me balance.
“Each role gives me something different, and together, they give me balance.”
Nadirah Zakariya, But fire does not erase memories, 2021, giclee print using archival grade pigment inks on premium satin photo paper, 90 x 60 cm. Image courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
Nadirah Zakariya, All Purpose Flower MCO Day 59, 2020, giclee print using archival grade pigment inks on premium satin photo paper, 90 x 60 cm. Image courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
Your solo exhibitions — Daughters Ago (2011), GIRLHOOD (2016), Feeling Feelings Makes Me, Me (2023) — seem to mark chapters in an ongoing exploration of self. How has your practice evolved across these bodies of work?
I think my practice has evolved quite naturally over the years, alongside my own experiences and the different stages of life I have gone through.
With Daughters Ago and GIRLHOOD, I was exploring ideas of identity, growing up, and what it meant to be a woman. As I got older, I became more comfortable with myself and more open to exploring my feelings and experiences in different ways.
With Fuji-san Love Letter & hatsuyume, there was a shift towards exploring memory, longing, and the feeling of finding refuge in relation to a place. And as for Feeling Feelings Makes Me, Me, I was more interested in emotions and allowing myself to feel things without necessarily needing to explain or make sense of them.
Looking back, my work has been a sort of self-portrait, even when I am photographing other people, flowers or places. I am constantly learning more about myself through the things I am drawn to and the stories I choose to tell. My practice continues to evolve as I do, and that is what keeps it interesting for me.
“Looking back, my work has been a sort of self-portrait, even when I am photographing other people, flowers or places.”
Nadirah Zakariya, Air Mata Air, 2025, installation view at The Back Room, Kuala Lumpur. Photo by All Is Amazing. Image courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
Your most recent solo exhibition, Air Mata Air (2025), opened at The Back Room. What are the central themes and ideas explored in the show?
Air Mata Air explores the relationship between water, the body and emotions, particularly how we carry and release our feelings. The work also draws from my own experience living with vitiligo, and how I see my body and the changes it goes through. Water became a way for me to think about reflection, vulnerability and the things we carry within us.
The title Air Mata Air is a play on the Malay words air mata, meaning tears, and mata air, meaning a spring or source of water, as well as an old-fashioned Malay term for a romantic partner. I liked how these different meanings came together, connecting water, emotions and love. The exhibition became a love letter to myself, an invitation to look at my body and feelings with more tenderness and acceptance.
Ultimately, it was about allowing myself to feel, even when those feelings are uncomfortable or difficult to make sense of. It was an extension of my ongoing exploration of myself, my body and the world around me.
Nadirah Zakariya, Air Mata Air, 2025, installation view at The Back Room, Kuala Lumpur. Photo by All Is Amazing. Image courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
Could you share your favourite art space or gallery in Malaysia? Why are you drawn to that space and what does it offer to you and your practice?
My favourite art space in Kuala Lumpur would have to be The Back Room. I have had a few exhibitions there, both solo and group shows, and it has also been home to many great exhibitions by other artists. It is a tiny art space tucked behind a cafe in the Zhongshan Building, but I think that is part of its charm.
Beyond the exhibitions, it is a space that has brought people together and been the starting point for many of my friendships. It offers us a sense of community. I appreciate spaces that make art feel accessible and bring people from different backgrounds together.
Nadirah Zakariya, Feeling Feelings Makes Me, Me 2023, installation view at temu house in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. Photo by Ameirfikri. Image courtesy of Nadirah Zakariya.
What are your hopes for the Malaysian art scene, and for Southeast Asia more broadly?
My hope is that the art scene, particularly photography, in Malaysia and Southeast Asia keeps going and growing, and that we continue to make space for more women to share their stories and perspectives. It is such an exciting time to be part of the art community here, and I would love to see more women taking up space, both in front of and behind the camera.
I hope we continue to support one another, create opportunities for each other, and make room for more diverse voices and ways of seeing the world. There is still so much more to explore and so many stories to be told. I hope we keep going, keep making work, and keep showing up for one another. That is how we continue to grow, together.
Find more of Nadirah’s work on Instagram and her website.
