IN SOLITUDE: SALVAGED LOVE

Artworks by Arifwaran ShaharuddinExhibition Design & Installation by Liew Chee HeaiPart of proceed from artwork sales goes to local NGOs that support marginalised communities

Arifwaran Shaharuddin (1977–2025) was best known as a virtuoso dancer, choreographer, and producer. Yet, few knew of his parallel journey as a visual artist. In his later years—most poignantly, during the Covid-19 lockdowns and after the loss of his beloved partner—he turned to another form of expression. Without a stage or audience, he began making art out of trash that he recovered from roadside and dumpsites.

Anything abandoned could be salvaged by Arif: clothes hangers, plastic sheets, insulation foam, scrap metal, washing machine parts, mannequins, worn-out leather, branches. Everyday remnants became his palette—transformed into intimate works of resilience and memory.

Arif worked in solitude with unrelenting passion, often late into the night, in the company of his dead partner’s spirit. Was he coping with grief and searching for new meanings for life? Transforming trash as he thrashed out his emotions, he created new and unexpected forms. 

Sadly, many of these works were discarded after his passing. The pieces presented here have been carefully restored and preserved, thanks to the community of dancers and friends who supported him in his final hours and after. Through Liew Chee Hai’s exhibition design and installation, they are brought into the light as the centrepiece of YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

BOOK your free tickets to the OPENING CEREMONY of the Exhibition and the Festival:

https://www.cloudjoi.com/shows/4500-opening-ceremony/ 

BOOK your free tickets to visit the exhibition from Tue 21 to Sun 26 Oct:

Please click here for all the programmes of You Are Not Alone: https://www.cloudjoi.com/collections/you-are-not-alone/

Check out all other programmes of YOU ARE NOT ALONE:

https://www.cloudjoi.com/collections/you-are-not-alone/ 

Interested in owning the artworks? Come for the exhibition or contact worldwithoutpangs@gmail.com or whatsapp +6017 747 1135 with the subject “Salvaged Love” and let us know which work you are interested in.

Artists’ Bio

Arifwaran Shaharuddin 

Arifwaran Shaharuddin (1977–2025) was an acclaimed Malaysian dancer, choreographer, and visual artist known for his innovative synthesis of traditional Malaysian art forms with contemporary aesthetics. An alumnus of the National Arts Academy (ASWARA), he was mentored by masters such as Khatijah Awang and Awang Hamzah. 

Arifwaran was a co-founder of Shakti Dances alongside Aida Redza and Judimar Hernandez. His work was featured internationally at the National Theatre of Vienna, National Art Gallery of Austria, Venice Biennale, The Pit River Museum in Oxford, and Museum of Contemporary Arts Taipei, as well as being part of the permanent exhibition at the Singapore Arts Museum. He was also nominated for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. He performed at the Asia Europe Dance Forum.

His practice often explored the interpretation of tradition in modern contexts, a spirit he carried into Shakti Dances. In recent years, he was in The Encounter of Senesino and MeiLanFang, Sacred at KLPAC for the Malaysian International Chinese Dance Week, as well as the Performance Design Exchange at ASWARA. He was also a featured dancer in REXPERIENCE (RXP) KL, highlighting the convergence of his movement artistry with cutting-edge digital technology. 

YOU ARE NOT ALONE is dedicated to his memory, carrying forward his vision of art as a space of connection, remembrance, and shared humanity. 

Liew Chee Heai

Liew Chee Heai is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes photography, performance art, installation art, and short video. In 2019, he made his directorial debut and performed in ‘Seni Tiga #033: Void in Void’. In 2022, he exhibited ‘My Island’, a site-specific installation, as well as directed and performed in ‘khakkhakkhak’ performance art. In 2023, he performed in ‘Sisyphus No. 9’ directed by Tung Jit Yang, and ‘Into the Symbiocene’ directed by Lim Sheng Hui, which was awarded Best Set And/Or Visual Design in Theatre category at BOH Cameronian Arts Awards 2024, and was nominated for Best innovation in Performance award at Stockholm Fringe festival (2024). In 2024, he directed and performed in ‘I Thought We Had a Deal’ and ‘You Really Messed Up Everything’. He performed in ‘Tidur Lambak’ at the International Theatre Platform, Jakarta in 2025.