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2020 Collection

The 2020-time capsule is a collection of crowdfunded objects that represents the year 2020. What objects speaks to you? What memes signifies how you experience the year 2020? Which artwork symbolises the pandemic in Malaysia?

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Ang Pow Collection

This collection features various festive and celebratory money envelopes produced in Malaysia, including Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Aidilfitri from the 1990s to 2010s.

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Anita & Ava Collection

This is a photo collection of Ava, Anita, and their peers from the transgender community from George Town, Penang.

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Bolehland : Political Memes of Chris Chew

A collection of memes and political graphics designed by Chris Chew from 2008 to 2015.

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Farish Noor Collection

Personal collection of Professor Farish Noor, consists of Southeast Asian themed postcards and press photos.

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Five Arts Centre

An archive of Five Arts Centre’s production posters and design work.

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HOMEBODY

In 2020, ILHAM Gallery launched an art competition during the MCO (Movement Control Order) with the theme ‘Homebody’ for kids aged 4 to 12 years old. This collection features the artworks of the finalists.

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Ice Cream Wrappers Archive

An archive of ice cream wrappers and packaging designs found in Malaysia across the 20th century.

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Kerajaan Langit (Sky Kingdom)

Kerajaan Langit was a religious movement led by the charismatic leader known as Ayah Pin. This archive is a collection of photographs by Danny Lim who is a photographer based in KL.

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Koh Lee Meng Archive

This archive consists of works by graphic designer Koh Lee Meng. The collection includes published works as well as sketches from his early career as a graphic design practitioner and from his own graphic design practice, Koh Design Consultants.

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Malayan Emergency

A collection of materials on new villages 新村 and the Malayan Emergency.

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MDA Core Collection

The MDA Core Collection was built by Ezrena Marwan, Jac sm Kee and Simon Soon, forming the backbone of Malaysia Design Archive’s archival mission. Started in 2008, it continues to grow over time.

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Men’s Review Magazine Collection

Men’s Review was founded in October 1993 by Faridah Stephens, and published by The Writer’s Publishing House

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Modern Malay Literature Archive

Founder of Tinta Budi, Nazir Harith Fadzilah’s personal collection of modern Malay literature from the 1960s through 1980s.

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Movie Leaflets Collection

This collection contains movie leaflets that have been screened in Malaysia between 1950 to 1980s. 

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Nadi Insan, Pusat Sejarah Rakyat

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OFF THE EDGE

OFF THE EDGE was a monthly print magazine that explored culture, lifestyle and politics, with an accent on business. It began publishing in 2005 until it ceased publication in June 2010.

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Pangrok Sulap

Kumpulan cetakan cungkil kayu milik kolektif Pangrok Sulap. Pangrok Sulap merupakan sebuah kolektif yang berasal dari daerah Ranau di negeri Sabah.

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Political Art of Fahmi Reza

A collection of design works by political artist, Fahmi Reza.

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Political Campaigns and Elections

A visual culture archive of Malaysia’s political campaigns and elections.

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Pre-Independence Advertisements

A collection of advertisements published in broadsheets and magazines in Malaya from the period of 1900 to 1948.

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Prison Sketches

A collection of sketches by political detainees in Malaysia.

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Projek 555

Projek 555 is a collection of everyday observations and reactions in the form of a mini visual diary. At the end of 2020, and again in 2021, Malaysia Design Archive issued an open invitation where for a month, anyone who wanted to participate would receive a 555 notebook by mail to journal whatever they liked, however they chose to.

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Pulau Pinang Magazine

Pulau Pinang is a bi-monthly magazine in the late 1980s to early 1990s focusing on Penang’s lifestyle and culture. Edited by Khoo Salma, the magazine is printed by Phoenix Press and published by Georgetown Printers.

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Punk Zines

This archive collection is from the site Koleksizine by Dhani Ahmad from Kelantan.

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Royal Selangor

Browse this collection of early graphic design materials of Royal Selangor that shows a glimpse of the company’s design history.

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Sketches of Pulau Bidong

A collection of sketches by artist La Toàn Vinh. La Toàn Vinh arrived to Pulau Bidong from Vietnam in 1980. He produced over one hundred sketches and paintings from 1981 to 1982.

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Socialist Front

This archive consists of broadsheets and songbooks from the The Malayan Peoples’ Socialist Front (also known as the Socialist Front). A dominant part of this collection was donated to us by researcher and academic Dr. Por Heong Hong

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Solidariti Puncak Purnama

Collection of materials on the event of demolished Syed Ahmad Jamal’s public sculpture, Puncak Purnama. On 16 August 2016, groups of protesters marched to Human Rights Commision of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) office to hand over a memorandum against the act of desecration. The protest was accompanied with street performances, poem recitals and art installations.

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Students In Resistance

“Students in Resistance” is a newsletter published by students from University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNMC).

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T.J. Kho Chartered Architects

A collection of works by T.J. Kho, a modernist architect who designed Hotel Malaya, one of Kuala Lumpur’s top hotels in the 60s, the Klang Municipal Council, OUG Plaza as well as suburban neighbourhoods like Taman Paramount.

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The Year 2020

This 2020 timeline is MDA’s attempt to mark some of these moments manifested through visual culture – from protests to politics, frontliners to water disruptions.

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Valentine Willie Collection

This archive is a personal art collection of Valentine Willie. Over the years, he has amassed an extensive collection of modern and contemporary Southeast Asia art. His desire to share his collection more widely led to this on-going collaboration with MDA to make his collection publicly available online for researchers and the general public.

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Wanita Magazine

A collection of the first modern Malay women magazine, Wanita.

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Wawasan 2020

This body of material is an attempt not only to capture the expansiveness of Wawasan 2020’s cultural footprint, but also to trace its reverberating aftermath.

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Women’s March Malaysia

A collection of placards during the Women’s March 2020, Malaysia. #womensmarchmalaysia

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Yap Han Soo & Sons Collection

This collection features photographs of building projects undertaken by Yap Beng Kong of Yap Han Soo & Sons, a Malaysian construction company. Among their notable projects is a Minangkabau roof-inspired Malaysia Pavilion constructed during 1970 World Exposition in Osaka Japan.

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Zainah Anwar Collection

The photographs in this collection were taken by feminist and activist Zainah Anwar during her trips to Seychelles, Pakistan, Lesotho and South Africa covering the elections in the early 1990s as a Commonwealth officer. Included in the collection are also photo albums from her visit to the 1995 NGO Forum On Women held in Beijing. Zainah […]