Kam's career has taken him from Singapore to Shanghai (All photos: Julian Kam)
Options: You mainly document culture and heritage through your artworks. What are some projects you have done in that aspect?
Julian ‘Lefty’ Kam: I created a few panels of the Marking George Town steel rod caricatures in 2013 and was a part of Sama-Sama: George Town, A Multicultural Art Journey in 2021, that documented the multicultural communities in the city. Last month, my Our Next Kopi Session featured in Angin Labuh, an exhibition organised by a local team and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia. My comics from this series were published in Vol 2 of Sloworks Publishing’s Monsoon documentary graphic anthology and exhibited in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 2019, Hong Kong in 2022 and then Penang.
Tell us more about Angin Labuh. How was the collaboration experience?
Working with Monsoon publisher Pei-Shan Huang again on Angin Berlabuh and getting to know some of the Taiwanese comics creators really opened up my mind. They have so much freedom to pursue their vision, with ample financial support from their government. While I am not saying they don’t need to worry at all about bread-and-butter issues, our need to balance commercial jobs and personal work is a whole lot tougher. They have been sent overseas to conventions representing Taiwan, thus creating exposure for their work as well as international collaborations.
Why the need to tell stories, especially those about the past, using comics?
The comic book format is a very effective way to pass on our heritage because it combines words with pictures and, best of all, sequentially. Comics are read and loved by people of all ages, too. Photographic archives are not that complete in this part of the world; I have trouble sourcing photo references even for something from the 1970s. I thought since I could visualise the subjects (or objects), I should do it and cross-check with the people who have memories of them. That’s what I do with most of my drawings: I research and weave the cultural and heritage elements into comic book stories.
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Now you are having an exhibition in Petaling Jaya called Airwell Memories. What will you be showing?
This is the first time I’m sharing my documentary art outside of Penang. In 2015, I was commissioned by George Town World Heritage Inc to illustrate how airwells and open-air courtyard spaces in the middle of shophouses are used by various communities, such as the Chinese majies (domestic help), Indian coolies, chettiars (merchants and money lenders from South India), Peranakan families and coffee shop operators. The drawings were featured in GTWHI’s annual collateral such as notebooks and postcards. I am showing all seven of my 28in x 40in canvas prints at Beans Depot Roastery and Café in Ara Damansara, PJ, from June 11 to mid-July.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, you worked on an online exhibition, I Am Home @ Penang, with Kuah Li Feng and Mohd Azmi Mohd Hussin. What was the aim of this more-than-an-art project?
I Am Home started off as an online exhibition featuring multicultural narratives of homemaking in Penang and led to a physical booklet. The intention was to foreground meaningful experiences that promote the true spirit of being a Malaysian. It was curated by Li Feng. Azmi and I visualised the interviews with 20 individuals, from Balik Pulau on the island to Machang Bubok in Seberang Perai. I interpreted the memories of a lady who used to live in an area near Penang Hill with her farming family, as well as how the traditional dhobi in Malaysia originated from India.
You have worked in Shanghai, Singapore and the US but keep returning to Penang. What draws you back to your hometown?
I went away mainly because of my curiosity and the opportunities that came my way. I wanted to gain enough experience from the world before applying what I know to my craft. When I went away in my younger days, I knew I loved our country but never understood why. Over the years, I began to understand why I love Penang, or Malaysia for that matter. It’s because of the unique multicultural society we have here. When I returned, I decided to express my fondness through graphic storytelling and art.
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Music serves as inspiration when you work. What kind of music do you like and what are you listening to now?
I enjoy different genres on different occasions, but most of the time I go for storytelling songs. Music helps set the pace of my stories and inspires me in many directions. I listen to David Bowie for thinking outside the box; Tom Waits for all topics dark and gritty; down-to-earth Asian stories through folk rock Taiwanese musician Bobby Chen; and derive rebellious rock energy from listening to the Stones.
What books are you reading now?
The Comics Journal Library: Frank Miller, which has interviews from 1981 to 2003, in which he talks about graphic novels, the industry and his work on characters including Batman, Daredevil and Martha Washington. Miller’s work has inspired me a lot since my first encounter with them in the late 1980s. Sadly, he hasn’t put out any good stuff since 2000, so I am rereading these old interviews to be inspired again.
Have you started travelling again?
I haven’t left the country since the pandemic, but in February, I took a month off my schedule and wandered around Sabah. It was an eye-opener. Our lives here in Peninsular Malaysia are so segregated compared to what’s going on in East Malaysia. I gathered lots of information by observing the multicultural lifestyle of Borneo and hope to come up with something to share my experience.
Are you working on any projects for the rest of this year?
There’s nothing solid for now but I want to work on a new graphic novel and, hopefully, travel abroad for more multicultural explorations.
Follow Lefty's works here.
This article first appeared on June 12, 2023 in The Edge Malaysia.
