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Liyana Kassim

Series 04 of 04
6 plates, black and white
2019 to 2025

Civic

The halls, corridors and screen walls a young country built in concrete, photographed at noon.

Location
Seremban, Ipoh, Kuantan, Kuala Lumpur, Alor Setar
Made
2019 to 2025, ongoing
Camera
Medium format, 45 mm shift, red filter
Light
Hard sun, 11:30 to 13:30
  1. Black and white view of a long modernist civic hall with a folded concrete roof and slim columns
    01Assembly hall. Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, 2019.Completed in 1963. The hall has not been used for an assembly since 2008.
  2. Black and white study of a concrete breeze-block wall and its sharp geometric shadows
    02Screen wall. Ipoh, Perak, 2020.
  3. Black and white view up a brutalist concrete stair tower with a vertical slot of windows
    03Stair tower. Kuantan, Pahang, 2021.
  4. Black and white corridor of square concrete columns throwing stripes of shadow, a tiny figure at the end
    04Corridor, 12:10. Kuala Lumpur, 2022.
  5. Black and white modernist hall with a shallow folded concrete dome mirrored in a pool
    05Domed hall. Alor Setar, Kedah, 2024.
  6. Black and white sweep of a concrete spiral ramp curving round in daylight
    06Ramp. Kuala Lumpur, 2025.Demolished in March 2026.

Notes on the series

Between 1957 and 1980 the new nation built its assembly halls, libraries, clinics and district offices in concrete, often behind breeze-block screens that let the wind through and kept the sun out. Many of them are now empty. Several in this series have since been demolished.

I photograph them in black and white, at noon, when the screens draw their own shadows on the floor and the buildings look the way their architects drew them. The buildings are not named. This is not an inventory, and some of the owners would rather they were forgotten quietly.

Civic is ongoing. A selection was shown as a solo exhibition in Ipoh in 2025.

Liyana Kassim, Ipoh.

Prints from Civic

  • Assembly hall, 2019Small sold out, Medium sold out, Large sold outFrom RM 1,450
  • Corridor, 12:10, 2022Small 6 left, Medium 4 left, Large 3 leftFrom RM 1,450
  • Ramp, 2025Small 10 left, Medium 6 left, Large 3 leftFrom RM 1,450

Every other plate in the series can be printed once as a study print, 30 x 40 cm, RM 380. Ask for a study print

Next series

01TidewaterMatang coast, Perak, 2023 to 2024

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