Azian Nurudin

With an all-female cast, featuring Suzie Bright as John Lennon, Cecilia Dougherty's Grapefruit plays with the romanticized history of the iconic Fab Four, gently mocking John and Yoko’s banal squabbles and obsessive rituals of self-display. Based obliquely on Yoko Ono’s book, the piece works on many levels to reposition this mythic tale of the Beatles by casting '80s women in mod drag—effectively mapping the lesbian sub-culture onto heterosexual mass culture. Discounting the importance of reproducing facts and historical accuracy, Dougherty gives an incisive reading of the creation of pop culture icons: it doesn’t matter who plays John Lennon because ultimately John Lennon is not a person anymore. As a star, he is a projection of our society’s collective needs and desires.

Structured around traditional wayang kulit puppetry, Nurudin draws together references to Islamic culture and her explorations of S&M.

Malaysian Series 1-6 introduces key themes that recur throughout Azian’s work. Each tableau in this series begins with a chapter title (e.g. Malaysian Series: 5 Punishment by Death for the Smuggling of Illegal Narcotics) and features Azian’s enactment of state violence on an object.

A television talkshow hosted by Andy Warhol, played by a deadpan Azian Nurudin, brings together impersonators of Jeff Koons, Ilona Staller, Whitney Houston and an art dealer in this parody feature on the state of Pop Art.

Gun kills man. Woman inherits the earth. Armed with guns, germ warfare books and a sleek, two-fingered hand torch, artists Azian Nurudin, Michelle Handelman and Klara Lux hang around shooting ranges and garanges, appealing to fellow queer women to "Join the lesbian militia!"

At an industrial park, performer Caerage boldly undresses, applies makeup, and poses for the camera. The wandering eyes of drivers in container trucks and trains pass by.

In a series of fragmented images, extreme close-ups and harried camera movements, the film turns the heavy pixels of PXL2000 into a feverish playground of S&M desire.

A Malaysian woman in America reflects on and immerses herself in the colonial erasure of Dayak headhunting practices across history. While doing so, she becomes inspired to seek out a prey of her own.

Azian wants to set a car on fire and film it for a project. To do so, she navigates a web of application processes and increasingly comical phone calls.

This lesbian S&M video is strangely theatrical in its relationship with the camera.