PEOPLE/BUILDINGS

AN ANALOG STREET-portraits-City-Scape Series

After spending two months in the tropical paradise of Indonesia—Bali and Lombok—I choose my next destination Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Before I experienced it all: stunning beaches, surfing, coconuts, palm trees, and endless scooter rides. Lombok, in particular, left a mark with its long rides to serene beaches on empty roads that wound through small villages with barely any streetlights.

Now you find yourself at Kuala Lumpur Airport, you grab a ride. The drive is long, and as the metropolis looms on the horizon, the contrast is striking. After arriving, you eat street food in Chinatown and then look up—it’s overwhelming. Buildings. Skyscrapers. The iconic skyline of KLCC.

There’s Merdeka 118, almost 700 meters tall and the second-highest building in the world, the Petronas Towers, and The Exchange 106, just to name a few. 

I was stunned by the contrast—from beachside tranquility to the towering concrete jungle. I spent hours on endless photo walks through the city center, marveling at these incredible feats of human architecture. Amidst the towering buildings, I noticed the people: rushing to work, working on the streets, or enjoying the view. This contrast inspired me to create a series: PEOPLE / BUILDINGS, KL 2024.

For this project, I shot one roll of black-and-white film, capturing views of buildings, and later double-exposed them with street portraits of people. 

These portraits feature the diverse residents of KL: students, workers, a toy piano player at a metro station, a street vendor, musicians—all framed, squeezed, and overlaid with the towering concrete structures of their city. 

Special thanks to Adam, Nina, San, Raman, Izzat, Rachel, Jeremy, Sophia, Islah, Mia, and the unknown clown.