Homecoming Project
But it was these two stints in Morocco and Tunisia that
would pave the way and form the basis for TOTEM.
Having spent some 30 years away from Malaysia,
her work was spotted by Joe Sidek, director of the
Georgetown Festival in Penang, Malaysia.
Diana recalls, “Joe saw my previous works and said
to me, ‘Diana, you should do something on your own
Diana Lui’s work in Morocco was largely
influenced by Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault
(1872–1934), a French psychiatrist,
photographer and professor at the National
School of Fine Arts in Paris.
He is most remembered for de Clérambault’s
Syndrome, which was named after him after a
review paper he published in 1921. It describes
a delusional disorder where a patient believes
that a famous person or someone of higher
status is in love with them, often by sending
special glances or signals.
After his injuries in the first world war, de
Clérambault travelled from Paris to Morocco
for his convalescence. During his time there
between 1912 and 1919, he studied Arabian
robe draping and took over 40,000 photographs
of women in robes, which he later donated to
the Musée de l’Homme in Paris.
After his death in 1934, it was written of de
Clérambault that he was the first to invent the
theory of draping and was “the first to consider
the folds of the floating garments, like the
rubric of a race and tribe... he was as artistic as
he was wise.”Who was
Clérambault?bottom RiGht January Low,
a professional dancer, wears
her mother’s wedding dress,
the cheongsam, in Selangor,
Malaysia (Totem, 2015)toP RiGht Ramlah Kipli
wears a handwoven silk
songket draped over a
traditional Malay costume
called the baju kurung
(Totem, 2015)country.’ And so I started coming back to Malaysia, not
just for holidays like I would do previously, but to meet
Malaysian women and to take their portraits. TOTEM
is indeed a homecoming project for me and it was an
opportunity to meet women of my own culture.”
These modern-day portraits of women from all over
Malaysia defy the simplistic racial classifications of
Malaysian citizens into Malay, Chinese, Indian or Other.PHOTO © WWW.PSIQUIFOTOS.COM