Experience Controversy was an exhibition staged by Izat Arif in 2013, following the removal of an artwork that was selected for the Young Contemporary Award organised by the National Art Gallery, Malaysia. The censored work was an installation of black t-shirts hung on a clothing rack, each silkscreened with two Arabic letters: ف and ق (in phonetics, ‘Fa’ and ‘Qof’). The installation was a response to the recent prohibition on the usage of the word ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims to address God within their non-Islamic beliefs when conversing or writing in Bahasa Malaysia. The work was taken down during the exhibition, and as a result, questions concerning censorship were raised.

Two-and-a-half years after the incident, Izat decided to stage a conversation about censorship and its accompanying controversies and issues, including how the media and certain political parties attempted to spin from the controversy to win public opinion. As he did not release a statement after the event, the conversation was also a form of closure.

The work here represents one of the questions posed to him by a local news outlet for an interview. Their fifth question is presented in Experience Controversy above a ready-made landscape painting purchased by the artist from a thrift store, recalling the artist’s jape during his meeting with the institution when he was summoned to the offices of the National Art Gallery: posed initially as an apology from the institution, Izat was confronted rather by a warning from a high-ranking staff member, who suggested that he should “be careful” the next time he joins any exhibitions or competitions. Izat’s response was to say he would only do landscape paintings from now on, which was met with laughter from the exhibition’s curators (who were lower in rank), which displeased senior members.