Zarina Muhammad’s research, writing and performance project draws from her decade-long multidisciplinary research on the shapeshifting forms and cultural translations. Her research investigates Southeast Asian ritual magic, sacred sites, forgotten spirits as well as the tracing of mythological roots of the feared, desired and revered (supernatural) body across the region. Her series of often collaborative and performance-based works deconstruct and aim to confront histories, texts, definitions, and (mis)representations associated with these bodies of knowledge and polycosmologies. Her research explores the broader contexts of myth-making, gender-based archetypes and the region’s tenuous and tentative relationship to mysticism and the immaterial against the dynamics of global modernity.
Cover image: Lecture Performance: Flowers from our Bloodlines by Zarina Muhammad, in collaboration with Stefania Rossetti. Featuring Vivian Wang, Eric Lee, and Tini Aliman, 2017. The Exhibition Hall. Courtesy of NTU CCA Singapore.