Radiographer scans through layered world of art and storytelling

'I am a firm believer that an artist has to be observant even about the simplest things in life, for these images make great stories,' says Mohd Azlan Mam Mohd Latib, an experimental photographer. Photo: The Star/Chan Tak Kong

Walking into a storeroom that doubles up as an art studio at the Radiology Department of the Cardiac Vascular Sentral Kuala Lumpur (CVSKL) feels like stepping into a resistance hideout during a post-nuclear holocaust.

The walls of the small room are plastered with A4-sized pieces of art – sepia toned, with splotches of red, images of men in gas masks, and motifs of hearts and lungs jumping out to grab one’s attention.

A corner bookshelf holds an assortment of literature, everything from Shakespeare’s classics to Choose Life, a book by Arnold J. Toynbee and Daisaku Ikeda, to Pierre Cabanne’s Dialogues With Marcel Duchamp.

There are old cameras and boxes that contain stacks of paper among scanners and pipes. Everything here is fascinating to the uninitiated.

Welcome to Mohd Azlan Mam Mohd Latib’s lair.

Born in Balik Pulau, Penang, Mohd Azlan is far from your conventional artist.

The 49-year-old found himself placed in the Science stream at residential Sekolah Menengah Sains Muar back in the 1980s, even though he had a penchant for art.

“After school, I was accepted by Universiti Malaya into a Life Sciences course, and I opted to do Bio-Med, more specifically biomedical imaging and nuclear imaging,” he says, adding that 30 years ago there was a dearth of radiographers at the then University Hospital (Universiti Malaya Medical Centre) so he was directed into that vocation, one in which he has thrived over the years. Mohd Azlan graduated in Medical Imaging in 1996, majoring in interventional radiological and cardiac procedures.

“The medical faculty was one of the busiest and I didn’t have any free time to work on my own artistic endeavours. Art was something that I was always interested in from the time I was a child.

A view of Mohd Azlan’s collage works – part science, part art, part philosophy - seen in his makeshift studio in KL. Photo: The Star/Chan Tak Kong

“During my college years I sketched a lot, and I feel very strongly that my experiences then really shaped my vision as an artist today. A lot of what I do now is in tandem or related to the medical aspects of my life.”

His caricatures then revolved around people falling ill, patients attached to their drip stands or lying flat in an operation theatre and relatives grieving in mortuaries.

“I didn’t notice it then but my experiences were moulding what would become the biggest characteristic of my art, which is empathy,” says Mohd Azlan.

Art and empathy

During his undergraduate years, Mohd Azlan received formal education in the fundamentals of photography, which has allowed him to explore and delve further into medium format, analogue photography, alternative hand tinting, collage and printmaking. All these you’ll notice in his unique brand of art, which he describes as having bold narratives, critical perspectives and using alternative methodologies.

Once you put aside these verbose descriptions, however, you will find that he is in fact a passionate storyteller.

“I am a firm believer that an artist has to be observant even about the simplest things in life, for these images make great stories. And my life has been so full of experience,” he says, explaining his career trajectory from UMMC to the National Heart Institute (IJN) at the age of 29.

“I was the youngest staff member there and I was put into a leadership position. That was tough. But again it shaped me into what I am today – a person with a strong vision. I didn’t have time to read, write, sketch or draw. I was working non-stop from 8am to midnight, every day. That didn’t stop me from gaining insight.”

Mohd Azlan says that although he was consumed by work, he had the opportunity to spend time with and talk to so many layers of society, as heart disease doesn’t discriminate between the super rich and the most marginalised sections of society.

‘My work is about human drama and I want it to provoke thought, to be visually stimulating and mentally challenging,’ says Mohd Azlan. Photo: Mohd Azlan Mam Mohd Latib

“I got to spend time with patients and their carers, observing what mattered to those around me, learning about people and how they cope with challenges.”

It’s no wonder then that his stories are laced with medical issues – Covid-19, his colleagues at work and their challenges, family, death, disease.

“When I talk about hospital issues and about sickness, other artists probably won’t understand. I feel that’s what separates me from others out there – that I come from a medical background. So my interpretation about life and death is a little different. Where I currently work (he is deputy manager at CVSKL) for instance, we have the highest number of coronary CT scans done in Asia. So I have diagnosed, seen and communicated with thousands of sick people.

“While most artists go to universities to learn about the elements of fine art, I went to a medical college to learn about life structures, and then now I channel this knowledge into my art pieces.”

Mohd Azlan’s portfolio is made up of many things, but one of the most prominent and interesting techniques he uses is combining photographs with collage elements (prints, postage stamps, stencils, photo transfers, teabags and coffee filters), medical imaging, and graphite and pencil markings. All of these are done on hand-soaked caffeinated paper, which he makes himself reusing discarded coffee from work.

“If I soak 100 pieces of paper, each will have a unique, random pattern on it. I try to maintain the highest aesthetic value in my work and this starts from each piece of paper being different.”

He sometimes adds images of famous personalities, and there are often elements of satire, politics and social critique to his work.

Tied to human drama

Mohd Azlan prides himself in being part scientist, part artist, part philosopher. A veritable jack-of-all-trades, he also is a bit of a history buff and collector with a voracious appetite for old things, especially literature.

“I am very into history, pre-and post-Merdeka, the insurgency, the division of Malaysia and Singapore ... I like to study historical narratives,” he says.

“I am always looking to create something atypical with unique projections. My work is about human drama and I want it to provoke thought, to be visually stimulating and mentally challenging. I want to create awareness about what’s going on around us. To me, art is a recording medium. It is not about pleasing buyers.”

An artwork from Mohd Azlan’s 'The Specimens: Ballads Of Local Magnitude' series, featuring the nation’s first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj. Photo: Mohd Azlan Mam Mohd Latib

Because of this he feels a great responsibility as an artist and “documenter” of the times.

“I cannot fool around with making pretty things. There’s a story to tell and it disheartens me when important historical documents are sometimes discarded, so I collect them and I feel the need to tell these stories. You might not see any beauty in my work. It is very rustic, very raw.

“There is beauty but in a different semiotic form – it is more surrealistic and often paradoxical,” he says, adding that he has intentionally chosen to work with a minimal colour palette.

“A lot of people spend a lot of money on what’s colourful and cantik,” he says.

“But I stick with sepia, the colour of coffee and graphite. This colour scheme is a long-term manifestation of my personal childhood memories, back to the days of me watching black and white TV in darjah empat (primary four). The reds have been included to jolt my viewers into understanding that there is an urgency to these matters that I am highlighting,” says the artist, who then digresses about how he is currently reading about semiotics as explained by French essayist Roland Barthes.

When Mohd Azlan is satisfied that a work is complete, he puts acid free glue over it, stamps it, adds his signature, covers it in a plastic sheet and places it on a wall in his little makeshift studio. Each work is dated and given a title, or is part of a series.

His latest pieces are part of a series called The Specimens: Ballads Of Local Magnitude, in which you may find a juxtaposition of conflicting subjects – Kesultanan Nusantara with The Rolling Stones, astronauts and Apollo motorcycle helmets, a US president and a black goat (sheep?), little girls and mermaids.

“One of the most fascinating things about the visual marketplace today is how people who are not artists by trade or formal education have been drawn to image-making out of curiosity or a need to explore art and the world around them. The challenging role I play here is remaining steadfast to my artistic voice,” he concludes.