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Dhan Illiani Yusof
ยฉ
What are your intentions with me?
eh tershoot @voguetaiwan @photovogue Sept 2026 ๐๐ป
APAC Editorial Director: Leslie Sun @sunles
Photographer: Dhan Illiani Yusof
Editorial Projects Associate: Anita Ku anitakutee
Fashion Editors: Chen Yu @ballballchiu, Amber Chan @amberchan_98
Feature Editor: Nicole Lee @nymphlee
Editor & Text: Avril Chen @avril55555
Light Design: Answer Chen @answer1108
Models: Karen @krnnnh_, Zoey @zoey_tung_
Makeup: Eddi @eddi_shenghsu
Hair: 4X @jun_zhang_hair
Fashion: all by BALENCIAGA @balenciaga
APAC Editorial Director: Leslie Sun @sunles
Photographer: Dhan Illiani Yusof
Editorial Projects Associate: Anita Ku anitakutee
Fashion Editors: Chen Yu @ballballchiu, Amber Chan @amberchan_98
Feature Editor: Nicole Lee @nymphlee
Editor & Text: Avril Chen @avril55555
Light Design: Answer Chen @answer1108
Models: Karen @krnnnh_, Zoey @zoey_tung_
Makeup: Eddi @eddi_shenghsu
Hair: 4X @jun_zhang_hair
Fashion: all by BALENCIAGA @balenciaga
neves system being neves
Melenggang perut commission as part of the new Merdeka Textile Museum @merdekatextilemuseum Kuala Lumpur, placed within one of pods of Gallery 6, Sacred & Spirituality.
Thanks to my friend Iqa for becoming part of this artwork, showing a practice yang usually intimate and private + thats rarely practiced today,
Melenggang perut is a blessing ceremony for first time mothers in the Malay culture during their 7th month of pregnancy๐, usually with 7 batik of different colours used one by one to โlenggangโ (wiggle/swing) the abdomen to check and adjust the baby's position, accompanied by prayers for a safe delivery
my friend was on her 6th month of pregnancy during this shot, now a few months dah sampai the little bundle of joy just in time for the museum opening :)
The batiks images used are the ones housed as part of the priceless collection and inventory within the Merdeka Textile Museum.
nanti dah besar, can see her mother when she was still carried in the pod (literally)
Thanks to my friend Iqa for becoming part of this artwork, showing a practice yang usually intimate and private + thats rarely practiced today,
Melenggang perut is a blessing ceremony for first time mothers in the Malay culture during their 7th month of pregnancy๐, usually with 7 batik of different colours used one by one to โlenggangโ (wiggle/swing) the abdomen to check and adjust the baby's position, accompanied by prayers for a safe delivery
my friend was on her 6th month of pregnancy during this shot, now a few months dah sampai the little bundle of joy just in time for the museum opening :)
The batiks images used are the ones housed as part of the priceless collection and inventory within the Merdeka Textile Museum.
nanti dah besar, can see her mother when she was still carried in the pod (literally)
Got to be part of the Southeast Asian arts program - residency Waste to Weft program by @notimetowaste.lab at @rimbundahan under @yayasan_hasanah around 2-3 months of experimentation with discarded textiles, traditional weaving and natural dye techniques under cikgu kesayangannn @nawawinorwani, a textile ikat master in Malaysia.
The residency showed in an exhibition titled โAdatโ with everyoneโs completed experiments and pieces, shown at Rex KL.
I didnt show my piece bcs I prefered to spend more time within my process, ๐ and finally completed it yesterday after about 5 months.
Counting threads with Dr Noni
brushing Sappanwood (kayu sepang) natural dye on my woven hearts every few minutes to let it seep in certain targeted areas
Found this thread in a thrift store, dipped in alum it turned green (dont ask me why)
three full days to pull the 140 threads through each shaft (4 shaft loom)
plotting the amount of warp to scale for the garment
dyed warps and wefts
sappanwood
the earlier bit, kena gulung for warp length
a glimpse of the final work
The residency showed in an exhibition titled โAdatโ with everyoneโs completed experiments and pieces, shown at Rex KL.
I didnt show my piece bcs I prefered to spend more time within my process, ๐ and finally completed it yesterday after about 5 months.
Counting threads with Dr Noni
brushing Sappanwood (kayu sepang) natural dye on my woven hearts every few minutes to let it seep in certain targeted areas
Found this thread in a thrift store, dipped in alum it turned green (dont ask me why)
three full days to pull the 140 threads through each shaft (4 shaft loom)
plotting the amount of warp to scale for the garment
dyed warps and wefts
sappanwood
the earlier bit, kena gulung for warp length
a glimpse of the final work
Second skin, two years back (2024) for my solo exhibition โNiyatโ at the National Art Gallery,
I experimented the idea of wearing my heart on the sleeve, and the idea of my hijab being part of a limb, a skin on skin, what it sacrifices and what it loves, my many inner conflicts and the pressures, the ideas in between shedding, or transforming an intention such as that into form.
materially I experimented between cow leather or sheep leather, and tattooing as a technique for me to etch onto textile,
learned for two months under Mr Simple Lim who runs a tattoo shop at GMBB at the time.
Two years now, I still carry this project and the conversations we had, best to say, we both had a loooottt of questions (yela some random tudung girl said she wants to learn how to tattoo)
I think what was unexpected is in learning the sentiments that we face or feel were very similar, of what is it like to live with or as symbols at times, the intentions behind what we choose to stay with on a daily, and the perceptions we face depending on context were at some parts interchangeable. Pretty cool conversations about being humans and our choices without the measures of resolving anything.
I experimented the idea of wearing my heart on the sleeve, and the idea of my hijab being part of a limb, a skin on skin, what it sacrifices and what it loves, my many inner conflicts and the pressures, the ideas in between shedding, or transforming an intention such as that into form.
materially I experimented between cow leather or sheep leather, and tattooing as a technique for me to etch onto textile,
learned for two months under Mr Simple Lim who runs a tattoo shop at GMBB at the time.
Two years now, I still carry this project and the conversations we had, best to say, we both had a loooottt of questions (yela some random tudung girl said she wants to learn how to tattoo)
I think what was unexpected is in learning the sentiments that we face or feel were very similar, of what is it like to live with or as symbols at times, the intentions behind what we choose to stay with on a daily, and the perceptions we face depending on context were at some parts interchangeable. Pretty cool conversations about being humans and our choices without the measures of resolving anything.
Wrapped up two exhibitions that was held in these past few months.
In Taipei, my work was shown as part of Fragments of Remembering (่จๆถ็้็ธซ), the 2026 @photovogue exhibition at Bellavita, presented in celebration of @voguetaiwan โs 30th anniversary. Terjoin its residency program as well, last minute assistance was needed so @haidayusof terjoin to help my neurospicyness take comfort in all the newness.
And in Arnhem, Netherlands, my moving image work Konfrontasi was shown as part of @stateoffashionnl State of Fashion Biennale 2026: Available to Promise, baru recently ended, was told welcomed more than 60,000 visitors and officiated by Queen Maxima of ๐ณ๐ฑ herself.
gila gila thank you @voguetaiwan @sunles @alessiaglaviano
@stateoffashionnl and itโs curators @annezzzzzz @world_of_shanu @vandriel_marinkovic_luo for giving the work a place within these conversations ๐
Images by Ema Broekema
In Taipei, my work was shown as part of Fragments of Remembering (่จๆถ็้็ธซ), the 2026 @photovogue exhibition at Bellavita, presented in celebration of @voguetaiwan โs 30th anniversary. Terjoin its residency program as well, last minute assistance was needed so @haidayusof terjoin to help my neurospicyness take comfort in all the newness.
And in Arnhem, Netherlands, my moving image work Konfrontasi was shown as part of @stateoffashionnl State of Fashion Biennale 2026: Available to Promise, baru recently ended, was told welcomed more than 60,000 visitors and officiated by Queen Maxima of ๐ณ๐ฑ herself.
gila gila thank you @voguetaiwan @sunles @alessiaglaviano
@stateoffashionnl and itโs curators @annezzzzzz @world_of_shanu @vandriel_marinkovic_luo for giving the work a place within these conversations ๐
Images by Ema Broekema
Seimbang
Niyaat studies of materiality,
#01 Pressed flowers entrapped in organza, baju kurung
the first time I experimented with pressed flowers was perhaps when my late mother would keep in her old dictionary as bookmarks, often leaving marks in the books,
using orchids that fell frm store launching bouquets that often end wilting for weeks, and edible malaysian grown flowers like pansies and keeping them within books in my bookshelves, sewn into this baju kurung piece that also doubles as a headcovering.
#01 Pressed flowers entrapped in organza, baju kurung
the first time I experimented with pressed flowers was perhaps when my late mother would keep in her old dictionary as bookmarks, often leaving marks in the books,
using orchids that fell frm store launching bouquets that often end wilting for weeks, and edible malaysian grown flowers like pansies and keeping them within books in my bookshelves, sewn into this baju kurung piece that also doubles as a headcovering.
A very soy-filled evening in the studio.
@nobomilk invited me to create an installation for their special luncheon. Somewhere between the weaving and sewing, I returned to the karangan Bahasa Melayu format so many of us grew up with,
the school essays where everyday objects became sentient, each narrating their own improbable life story.
Seeing soya within that lens,
where familiarity remains but isnโt fixed, it evolves to us finding new ways to acquaint to it.
Anyway, I am a huge soy girl โจ
@nobomilk invited me to create an installation for their special luncheon. Somewhere between the weaving and sewing, I returned to the karangan Bahasa Melayu format so many of us grew up with,
the school essays where everyday objects became sentient, each narrating their own improbable life story.
Seeing soya within that lens,
where familiarity remains but isnโt fixed, it evolves to us finding new ways to acquaint to it.
Anyway, I am a huge soy girl โจ
tibe tibe @voguetaiwan @photovogue ๐
will be in Taiwan this July for a quick residency and show
will be in Taiwan this July for a quick residency and show
๐ง๐ปโโ๏ธdua tiga threads berlari
Konfrontasi (Confrontation) is currently screening as part of something CINEMA, in the State of Fashion Biennale 2026 in Arnhem, Netherlands. @stateoffashionnl
part of an ongoing inquiry into the recurring visual culture of fashion in Malaysia, the repetition of certain aesthetics or gestures, and the inner tensions that naturally emerge when one does not naturally fit within an established sense of uniformity/formation.
Sapa-sapa yang dekat ๐ณ๐ฑ, tolong perigiiii ๐ ๐๐๐๐
part of an ongoing inquiry into the recurring visual culture of fashion in Malaysia, the repetition of certain aesthetics or gestures, and the inner tensions that naturally emerge when one does not naturally fit within an established sense of uniformity/formation.
Sapa-sapa yang dekat ๐ณ๐ฑ, tolong perigiiii ๐ ๐๐๐๐
chutchutchut
Performance art master class with @dinsabah
(rindu moving my body)
lathered in whipping cream as a head covering, slowly cair like milk for a kitten. enough catcalls, to become one.
Performance art master class with @dinsabah
(rindu moving my body)
lathered in whipping cream as a head covering, slowly cair like milk for a kitten. enough catcalls, to become one.
Mak,
Brought my granny puff into my world, a language iโm more fasih and equipped with, the best way that I know how to kenal,
been reorienting myself in ways I canโt susun into words to comprehend, now my head toleh to watch the ephemeral process of women and becoming,
maybe from learning about myself more or just growing older, mungkin even another form to feel my late mother again in stories that paint her before the pictures I have of her and to kenal becomes something different again.
niyaat # 01
handsewn baju kurung, pressed orchids and local flowers encased in three layers of organza.
Brought my granny puff into my world, a language iโm more fasih and equipped with, the best way that I know how to kenal,
been reorienting myself in ways I canโt susun into words to comprehend, now my head toleh to watch the ephemeral process of women and becoming,
maybe from learning about myself more or just growing older, mungkin even another form to feel my late mother again in stories that paint her before the pictures I have of her and to kenal becomes something different again.
niyaat # 01
handsewn baju kurung, pressed orchids and local flowers encased in three layers of organza.
finally moving my hands to a different rhythm and time, yay to free time
paksa diri in a self induced residency at the moment,
Selamat Hari Raya ๐
Maaf zahir batin!
terikut local folklore of daun semalu (shameplant - mimosa pudica)
Maaf zahir batin!
terikut local folklore of daun semalu (shameplant - mimosa pudica)
exhibiting in Women by Women, the 10th edition of the @photovogue Festival, @voguemagazine held at the prestigious Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, Milan.
Selected among 150 artists from nearly 100,000 submissions worldwide, the exhibition explores what it means to tengok menegok as a woman, (see and and be seen as a woman).
Grateful to work in some of the projects with friends, shout out to @highkeyflair @aidan.at @whoisshiyan who contributed in collaboration. Iโve always been raw and guerrilla in moving my visual image work, so its a joy to learn new tricks continuously - reminds how being open, supportive of new ideas, cultivating and challenging visions makes a difference in our shared local creative ecosystems.
Thank you @photovogue @alessiaglaviano
Grateful to be part of this collective chorus of voices.
Thank you @nationalartgallerymy for assisting in providing the means for the exchange to happen
Selected among 150 artists from nearly 100,000 submissions worldwide, the exhibition explores what it means to tengok menegok as a woman, (see and and be seen as a woman).
Grateful to work in some of the projects with friends, shout out to @highkeyflair @aidan.at @whoisshiyan who contributed in collaboration. Iโve always been raw and guerrilla in moving my visual image work, so its a joy to learn new tricks continuously - reminds how being open, supportive of new ideas, cultivating and challenging visions makes a difference in our shared local creative ecosystems.
Thank you @photovogue @alessiaglaviano
Grateful to be part of this collective chorus of voices.
Thank you @nationalartgallerymy for assisting in providing the means for the exchange to happen
I onboarded my first intern @8i8.c0m, who reached out from Pattani, Thailand last year, this very cute petite girl reminded me a lot about my earlier days of navigating the world, no one told me about returning to an earlier self mirrored through the presence of another woman at the beginning of her own journey.
sebenarnya, quite nervous about the responsibility, but there was also the realisation how somehow, Iโve grown be more relational within my intimate process.
for her last task, I decided nisrin to have her first exhibition, โReworkedโ under temu international womenโs day (this wasnโt planned btw - but seemed to present to be the best time, for an artwork of us working in collaboration.
The piece reworks an early conceptual image and collage of myself in a fetal resting figure sheltered within a durian form beneath a moon. I created that image at a time when I was
younger and more uncertain, often searching for spaces of emotional and creative safety, a place of lindungan.
So it seemed poetic to circle back around and present how the things you seek you become.
sebenarnya, quite nervous about the responsibility, but there was also the realisation how somehow, Iโve grown be more relational within my intimate process.
for her last task, I decided nisrin to have her first exhibition, โReworkedโ under temu international womenโs day (this wasnโt planned btw - but seemed to present to be the best time, for an artwork of us working in collaboration.
The piece reworks an early conceptual image and collage of myself in a fetal resting figure sheltered within a durian form beneath a moon. I created that image at a time when I was
younger and more uncertain, often searching for spaces of emotional and creative safety, a place of lindungan.
So it seemed poetic to circle back around and present how the things you seek you become.
A few years back, shooting commissioned by instagram
doadia ~ diadoa
Obor-obor in love with brown muddy waters,
This was perhaps one of my first experiment with conceptual photography when I was 19 or 20 used mydin printed batiks to test out teratai like hijabs. with baby @thezulvanny and @definitelyefi ๐๐ค
This was perhaps one of my first experiment with conceptual photography when I was 19 or 20 used mydin printed batiks to test out teratai like hijabs. with baby @thezulvanny and @definitelyefi ๐๐ค
Konfrontasi study
the absurd, exhausted, holy, and defiant
@irinedaris
@insyirahiszarizal
@eridiata
@nebularbabe
Shooting Team:
@whoisshiyan
@aidan.at
@highkeyflair
the absurd, exhausted, holy, and defiant
@irinedaris
@insyirahiszarizal
@eridiata
@nebularbabe
Shooting Team:
@whoisshiyan
@aidan.at
@highkeyflair
Violence is ordinary
Its bred, nurtured, normalised, cultivated, even cared for.
And no, I donโt mean the boys.
I mean a culture,
rife with collective complicity.
Why do we pretend to be in shock
at the rise in femicide, assault, and rape
of young women and girls?
Have you not heard your sister say,
itโs almost a rite of passage for women.
Your aunt say,
we all go through it.
Your mother say,
itโs part of being a woman.
A nationโs nawaitu
missed its nyawa itu.
our ordinary is violence here.
Muse: @eridiata
Its bred, nurtured, normalised, cultivated, even cared for.
And no, I donโt mean the boys.
I mean a culture,
rife with collective complicity.
Why do we pretend to be in shock
at the rise in femicide, assault, and rape
of young women and girls?
Have you not heard your sister say,
itโs almost a rite of passage for women.
Your aunt say,
we all go through it.
Your mother say,
itโs part of being a woman.
A nationโs nawaitu
missed its nyawa itu.
our ordinary is violence here.
Muse: @eridiata
The on-going exploration of Iman Alternative,
of modern Malay femininity
absurd, exhausted, holy, and defiant.
The mysticism of the Malay woman in collision with devotion, set against the extractive nature of modern structures.
Yayyyyyyyyy updated the websiteeeeeee
https://www.dhanillianiyusof.com/blog
Also my Merpati Putih is cute here (My Myvi carโs pet name of 9 years)
@dayanayahaya
@irinedaris
@insyirahiszarizal
@eridiata
@nebularbabe
Shooting Team:
@whoisshiyan
@aidan.at
@highkeyflair
of modern Malay femininity
absurd, exhausted, holy, and defiant.
The mysticism of the Malay woman in collision with devotion, set against the extractive nature of modern structures.
Yayyyyyyyyy updated the websiteeeeeee
https://www.dhanillianiyusof.com/blog
Also my Merpati Putih is cute here (My Myvi carโs pet name of 9 years)
@dayanayahaya
@irinedaris
@insyirahiszarizal
@eridiata
@nebularbabe
Shooting Team:
@whoisshiyan
@aidan.at
@highkeyflair
Iman Alternative
@dayanayahaya
@irinedaris
@insyirahiszarizal
@eridiata
@nebularbabe
Shooting Team:
@whoisshiyan
@aidan.at
@highkeyflair
@dayanayahaya
@irinedaris
@insyirahiszarizal
@eridiata
@nebularbabe
Shooting Team:
@whoisshiyan
@aidan.at
@highkeyflair
โshe, in apostrophe, hyper-read yet profoundly unreadโ
what you read in me,
will always be incomplete,
shooting team
@highkeyflair
@aidan.at
what you read in me,
will always be incomplete,
shooting team
@highkeyflair
@aidan.at
2/6 of my graduateโs collection from 2018
in 2018 I made an ode to my late motherโs memory ( one of many ) of the little things she taught me growing up,
on sewing, pressing flowers within Atlas and encyclopedia books, lessons on gardening and its life cycles and its gift of memberi,
so naturally I pressed a number of malaysian grown flowers and encased them in between the thinnest layers of silk fabric and sewn the edges into place, completed by a branch from one of my favourite evening walks by the taman.
A kind of autopsy of her bones, the beribu- (ibu) that i feel is around me in anything green, reminiscent of her green nature and fingers
As pressed flowers lose their vibrancy - the colour faded, yet the fragility and presence remained. A soft monument to time, memory, deep grief and what is passed down through fabric, care, and decay. Echoing as well the pain of seeing her hide her cancer in the last few months.
itโs been 7 years since i created this piece and yet this work still hangs over adjacent to my bed has lasted longer than what I expected. Fragility frozen in its own time.
It was named different before in a show, but changed it later to
โTinggal Beribuโ - on whats left yet stays, whats given yet taken and what is a thousand mothers experienced within them
on sewing, pressing flowers within Atlas and encyclopedia books, lessons on gardening and its life cycles and its gift of memberi,
so naturally I pressed a number of malaysian grown flowers and encased them in between the thinnest layers of silk fabric and sewn the edges into place, completed by a branch from one of my favourite evening walks by the taman.
A kind of autopsy of her bones, the beribu- (ibu) that i feel is around me in anything green, reminiscent of her green nature and fingers
As pressed flowers lose their vibrancy - the colour faded, yet the fragility and presence remained. A soft monument to time, memory, deep grief and what is passed down through fabric, care, and decay. Echoing as well the pain of seeing her hide her cancer in the last few months.
itโs been 7 years since i created this piece and yet this work still hangs over adjacent to my bed has lasted longer than what I expected. Fragility frozen in its own time.
It was named different before in a show, but changed it later to
โTinggal Beribuโ - on whats left yet stays, whats given yet taken and what is a thousand mothers experienced within them
Showing some textile works from my residency time in Indonesia in 2019, come come. @cult_gallery
In collaboration with @samyama.by.johnang , ๐ผ๐๐๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ง๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฉ๐๐ก๐๐จ: ๐ผ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ก๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ก๐๐จ๐จ๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ traces the shared cultural threads of ASEAN nations through contemporary artistic expressions and historical textiles. Contemporary works curated by @cult_gallery are placed in dialogue with antique and vintage textiles and objects from the collection of @samyama.by.johnang , set in the charming space of @yapahshakhouse
Anchoring this yearโs ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, the exhibition highlights regional continuities and tensions through material histories and artistic practices.
The poster features artwork by @dhanilliani presented by Cult, alongside a Kelantanese silk screen by Mohamed Yusof from the Samyama collection.
In collaboration with @samyama.by.johnang , ๐ผ๐๐๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ง๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฉ๐๐ก๐๐จ: ๐ผ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ก๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ก๐๐จ๐จ๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ traces the shared cultural threads of ASEAN nations through contemporary artistic expressions and historical textiles. Contemporary works curated by @cult_gallery are placed in dialogue with antique and vintage textiles and objects from the collection of @samyama.by.johnang , set in the charming space of @yapahshakhouse
Anchoring this yearโs ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, the exhibition highlights regional continuities and tensions through material histories and artistic practices.
The poster features artwork by @dhanilliani presented by Cult, alongside a Kelantanese silk screen by Mohamed Yusof from the Samyama collection.
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