For artist Noor Mahnun, memory and cultural hybridity are not just inspirations, they are the frameworks of her art. Known professionally as Anum, the Kelantan-born artist draws deeply from her own transnational journey and personal history, weaving together scenes of quiet domesticity with visual cues from multiple cultures. These ideas materialise in recurring motifs, such as tiled floors and soft chiaroscuro, that give her works their distinctive texture.
Mahnun’s artistic language is shaped by a life spent between continents. Trained initially in architecture in the United States, she later found herself in Germany where her credits were not recognised. It was a bureaucratic dead end that led to a pivot. “As I needed a student visa to stay in Germany, a friend suggested I apply for an art school as the application depends primarily on your portfolio submission,” she recalls.
While pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in painting at Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Braunschweig, she exhibited her works throughout Germany and in Florence. After returning to Malaysia, she became an active figure in the local art scene, taking on myriad roles such as curator, educator, and arts manager.
“It’s almost as if the drawings pick you, instead of the other way round.”
Rendered primarily in oil, her paintings are celebrated for their capacity to transform the mundane into something quietly luminous. Critics often note her ability to imbue ordinary domestic scenes, feminine figures in repose, textured fabrics, patterned flooring, with an almost meditative stillness. Her work has been auctioned internationally, with realised prices exceeding USD 60,000, underscoring both her aesthetic value and critical acclaim.
“We had a wonderful childhood,” as she says, recalling family beach picnics and festive holidays. That spirit of warmth permeates her art. In an era marked by spectacle and speed, her work invites a return to slowness.
One of Mahnun’s most poignant pieces is ‘Boxers’ (2025), which shows three boxers mid-spar and is drawn from a photograph of her father at teachers’ college in the 1960s, boxing with his friends. It can inspire collective nostalgia, whisking us back to a time of black-and-white TV broadcasts of Ali-Frazier fights, childhood games in Kota Bahru, and family life in a pre-digital Malaysia.
To view these and other works, visit Mahnun’s first solo exhibition in Singapore, “Anum”. Presented by Yeo Workshop at Gillman Barracks, it runs until 31 August 2025.
You trained in architecture before moving into fine art. How has that shaped your painting style?
I love using the grid! It allows me to build my composition in a systematic way. I also employ flat perspective and isometric perspectives, techniques found in Indian miniatures, as well as Japanese ukiyo-e paintings and prints.
In layman terms, flat perspective is utilised in most Mughal miniature paintings, pre-Renaissance medieval illuminations, or Byzantine artworks. It’s akin to a bird’s eye view. Meanwhile, isometric perspective is a type of 3D representation where a three-dimensional object is depicted in two dimensions using parallel lines and a consistent scale, without the use of a vanishing point. It is used in technical illustrations, engineering drawings, or architectural plans to represent 3D objects in a clear and easy-to-understand manner.
What is your process like, from concept to finished canvas?
I always have a stack of drawings in the studio, among from I pick a few to develop into small oil studies. Then, I work on two to three oil studies simultaneously and develop one into a larger format. After deciding on the final composition, I start painting. At some point here, its title comes to me, which informs the direction. It’s as if the drawing picks you, instead of the other way round.
Your work often features domestic interiors and everyday objects. What draws you to these subjects?
I spend most of my time at home. I enjoy housekeeping routines; they are a part of my painting ritual. My early works done in Europe typically featured interiors as most activities happened indoors, since summer is very short in Berlin.
What do you look forward to about your first solo showcase in Singapore?
It’s exciting to be a part of the larger arts community. It’s always helpful for me to see how my practice reaches out to a wider audience.
Your favourite work from the exhibition?
‘Sunflowers’ (2025). Before I went to art school, I drew a lot of flowers in pastel and watercolour. Many of my still-life compositions were inspired by Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’, so my interest in botanical drawings is evident.
How did your Malaysian roots inform your early works, even while you lived and exhibited abroad?
During a class exhibition in Braunschweig, someone looked at my painting and pointed out that I was from Malaysia. It featured fishing boats from the east coast and he’d recognised their colours. Until then, I never realised it.
How do you see your work evolving?
In the next seven years, I want to complete my botanical drawing and printmaking project. It involves working with ethnobotanists, who are specialists in the relationship between people and plants, particularly how different cultures and societies use plants for food, medicine, shelter, and other purposes.
The botanical drawing and printmaking project I started in 2021 titled ‘Racun & Penawar’ was based on J.D Gimlette’s ‘Malay Poisons and Charm Cures’ (1915). My research was halted because of the pandemic lockdown, so I hope to continue this line of research involving local ethnobotanists, not only to locate the plant species but to inquire further on what was written in Gimlette’s book.
What’s next?
I’m starting a series based on An Evening In Paris; it’s a Bollywood movie from 1967. My other project features architectural features such as water towers. So there’s lots to do!
