The Beloved Sun
2018
Wei Ling Contemporary – Kuala Lumpur

The theme that united all the performances for 7 was the privacy of love. Within this greater narrative, individual accounts were also told. Some spoke of efforts to cross boundaries, many resistant to their breach. At Wei-Ling Contemporary in Kuala Lumpur, where the show was launched, Amin invited Suraj and Aziz, two Guinean refugees who are employed by the gallery, to perform a work that was inspired by them. Called The Beloved Sun, it was a play on their names: Suraj means “sun” in Arabic; Aziz means “beloved.” The two, who have been friends since childhood, migrated to Malaysia together in search of a better life. Amin wished to celebrate their fraternal bond by having them face one another over a small Persian carpet placed before two of his imposing copper sculptures in the shape of water buffalo horns. Throughout the three-hour duration of the opening, they laughed and chatted with one another in a pidgin that no one at the gallery but they could grasp as attendants ceremoniously offered them food and drink. The performance made many attending the opening uncomfortable. Amin insisted that the privacy of Aziz and Suraj’s conversation remain undisturbed.