Marcos Kueh’s exhibition proved to be a pleasant surprise. With its bright colors and traditional iconography, the artist managed to create a cultural amalgam that speaks to everyone, even to a foreigner like me.
Kenyalang Circus means “Hornbill Circus” and is the title of his exhibition at the MACAN Museum, running from May 23 to October 7, 2026. The author wanted to describe his homeland, Sarawak—a Malaysian state in Borneo—through a combination of images attributed to this area from the outside (the outsider’s imagination) and from the inside (the people who inhabit it). An additional perspective brought by Kueh into his works is that of the Chinese minority culture, as he belongs to this group himself. The reference to hornbills comes from the fact that Sarawak is often called the “Land of the Hornbills,” since these birds nest in the area.
In a single, rather broad room, the artist arranged very large, brightly colored tapestries that he created. These works hang from the ceiling in the center of the room, allowing visitors to walk among them. This display layout makes it possible to observe the banners closely and from all angles. Furthermore, it made the experience truly immersive, almost like a journey.
On the right wall, three dark green banners are arranged to be read as a series. In fact, they feature animals as subjects, and based on the artist’s previous works, we know that these animals carry a symbolic meaning: the buffalo, which appears in all three works, is associated with labor and hard work. According to Malaysian tradition, this animal is also associated with stupidity and stubbornness. In the last of these three works, it is captured by the tiger, an animal at the top of the food chain that represents power and prestige. It is clear that Kueh uses these animals to criticize the social hierarchy: in fact, one aspires to have power and prestige, but the well-being of those who possess them somehow depends on the labor and hard work of someone else[1]. In these three works, typographical characters belonging to different cultures appear, including Jawi[2], Chinese, Latin, and Fulu[3].
The works in the center of the room feature brighter colors and have single individuals wearing tribal masks as their subject. These are traditional masks from Borneo, which served as mediators between humans, ancestral spirits, and the invisible world. The composition of these portraits recalls circus advertising posters, as they are framed by clouds and scrolls. In each of these six works, the scroll in the bottom center bears the name of the subject (Homo Savagius Obedius, Exotic Hospitality, Homo Maiden Exotica, Money Minded, Homo Servantis Erotis, Primitive Performance). The choice of the Latin language in many of them serves to ironize the tendency to address Borneo only from the perspective of anthropological studies. In these mask portraits, viewpoints intertwine, reinforcing the conflict between expectations and reality. For example, in Homo Servantis Erotis there is a clear reference to the labor situation in Sarawak, with the representation of strenuous and underpaid jobs. This image clashes with the allusions to prosperity or exotic flavor that we find in the series through inscriptions in Mandarin.
On a wall of the room, another five banners are arranged to resemble a waterfall—a natural element that, in various communities of Borneo, represents a connection between the terrestrial world and that of the ancestors. According to some beliefs, spirits can temporarily visit the world of the living through waterfalls. Here, then, is the key to reading the exhibition: a world of contradictions that coexist: past and present, indigenous and foreign, expectations and reality. It is no coincidence that the word “reconciliation” appears multiple times on the tapestries arranged like a waterfall. This is the Sarawak of Marcos Kueh.
[1] In 2023 the author created a work titled There are no tigers in Borneo with a meaning of political critique, given that the arrangement of the tigers and other elements mirrored the coat of arms of Malaysia.
[2] The Jawi alphabet is a writing system that uses Arabic characters modified to fit the sounds of the Malay language
[3] Fulu characters are magical symbols and talismanic scripts from Taoism. They are vertically structured and serve a propitiatory purpose
The Yellow Hexagon 
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