Malaysian artist Liew Kung Yu (b. 1960) is renowned for his sculptural photographic works, a medium which is rarely glimpsed in Southeast Asian contemporary art circuits. His practice is deeply concerned with issues relating to (Malaysian) nationalism and Asian identity. He is also lauded for his unique brand of high kitsch, which often involve photo collage pieces that utilize his signature photographic collage reliefs, a labor-intensive technique which involves the arranging, cutting, and assembling of hundreds of photographs in complex, raised layers, which result in a visual product comparable to bas relief. Liew was trained as a graphic designer at the Malaysian Institute of Art in Kuala Lumpur; he shifted to visual art in the early 1990s. The four works which comprise the photographic collage series, Cadangan-Cadangan Untuk Negaraku (Proposals for My Country), include Konkrit Jungle, Metropolis Warisan, Pantai Gelora Cahaya, and Bandar Sri Tiang Kolom. The suite was commissioned by Galeri Petronas – fellow artist Anurendra Jegadeva was the curator of the space then, and was a driving force behind the project – for which Liew was inspired by the public sculptures, monuments and architectural ornamentation found throughout his native Malaysia. He assembled four large-scale photo collages of these, which he photographed while travelling around the country, from the giant Pitcher Plant at the Dataran Merdeka to the bunga raya fountain in Malacca. These elaborate and complex vistas celebrate national achievements and extravagant monuments while presenting the artist’s vision of what Malaysia could look like in the future; they examine both the aesthetic choices of our built environments as well as the relationship between urban communities and the space that they inhabit.The Bandar Sri Tiang Kolom piece is premised on a fictional bandar, or town. (“Kolom” is Malay for column, and “tiang” refers to a pillar.) Most of the buildings were shot in both Peninsular and East Malaysia, and the floral motifs littered throughout the composition are images of the national flower, the bunga raya (hibiscus). The structures included in the piece are divided spatially into 4 compositional frames, and intended to reduce these fictional landscapes to two-dimensionality. (It is interesting to note that the gaze is replicated here: the viewer’s positionality is heightened by visual elements that foreground the two-dimensional aspect of the piece, just as the national or touristic gaze is embedded in the tableau itself, in the form of the two foreign tourist figures.) The first category of structures are of terrace houses, and the second category includes images of colourful poles, festooned with colourful ornaments such as are found during Hari Raya celebrations; these were captured in parks and gardens. The third category are pictures of bungalows, followed by the fourth category of different architectural structures found throughout Kuala Lumpur and other Malaysian cities. The fifth and last category is comprised of traditional Malay architecture that is to be found in villages, or kampungs; these Rumah Papan and Rumah Kampung are still very much a part of the landscape of Malaysia today.