Kurungthepillar - Vogue Women by Women Global Shortlist

Women by Women: The Shortlist | Vogue

Niyat (Intentions)

Dhan Illiani Yusof

MALAYSIA

This photograph is part of the series ‘Niyat (Intentions)’.

Kurungpillar explores faith, textile, and the lived realities of Muslim women in Malaysia, using cultural and religious dress as a language of both visibility and concealment. Through baju kurung silhouettes and telekung-like forms, the work reveals the multiplicity of identities that exist beneath public narratives of modesty, femininity, and belief.

At its core, the piece echoes the spirit of Konfrontasi  — a push and pull between identity and norm, where a figure stands alone against the pressures of tradition, spirituality, and social expectation. This confrontation becomes a surreal, contemplative space that invites viewers to reflect on what is seen, what is assumed, and what is quietly endured.

The work is also shaped by the artist’s neurodivergent perceptual world — a way of sensing that resists premature clarity or fixed meaning.

Kurungpillar becomes a place where ambiguity and emotional residue are allowed to remain uncollapsed, reflecting a cognitive rhythm that interprets reality through layers rather than conclusions.

In a cultural environment that often rushes to simplify the unfamiliar, the piece holds open a gentler space: one where the unknown is not threatening, where complexity is not a mistake, and where womanhood is not flattened into a single narrative. Kurungpillar is less about defining Muslim womanhood than expanding the room for its many forms — including the contradictions, uncertainties, and internal logics that rarely fit prescribed frames.

Part of the 150 Shortlist for Vogue's Women by Women Global Photo call.