Fyerool Darma’s ‘Sunny, your smile ease the pain’ is now open at Yeo Workshop. Thank you to all who joined us for the exhibition opening.

Developed as a tribute to his parents, the title is appropriated from Boney M.’s ‘Sunny’, a song released in 1976, which his parents enjoyed in their youth. Growing up, Fyerool often conflated the word ‘sunny’ (or sun) with seni. While the former references the sun and is associated with light-hearted moments, the latter is an ‘adapted’ word in the Malay language for art – or an aesthetic pursuit.

The exhibition presents Fyerool’s aesthetic pursuits – a selection of works made from 2017 to 2019. Presented as an assemblage of bleached canvases, framed digitally edited found images, folded textiles and works on paper, the artist’s oeuvre is presented ironically as one single body.

As a nod to his parents, the exhibition-artwork references the cultural and biographical lineages that inform Fyerool’s work. Furthermore, it evidences how Fyerool’s work functions as objects imbricated in the social bonds that define society. Inspired by encounters on the internet and hauntings from the archive, each work in Fyerool’s oeurve is an address to an individual or community, a cryptic communique sent into public place, a (mis) translation based on the duplicity of everyday speech – where we say what we mean but don’t mean what we say.

Accumulated, re-composed and assembled, this oeuvre of artworks is an exhibition, an artwork, and a literal social body on display.