Installation view at Museo della Mura, Roma, Italy. 2026
“The Kompang: Rhythms of Identity features modified traditional Malay frame drums where X-rays replace the goat-skin surface, transforming the instruments into storytellers that resonate with personal memory.”
— Dr. Anna Cuomo
Rhythm of Identity
(X-Ray Kompang)
X-rays, wood, nails, textiles
30 kompang drums, various diameters
First presented in the exhibition In Between Worlds at Kapallorek Art Space, Malaysia (2024), and later exhibited internationally at Kunstpakhuset (2025) and Museo delle Mura (2026).
Artist Reflection
I am not entirely sure when or where the idea to make the kompang first emerged. Perhaps it came from a desire to reconnect with my childhood. Growing up, music played a significant role in my life, and my father, a ghazal musician, deeply shaped my early experiences of sound and rhythm.
In Rhythm of Identity, I combine this personal connection to music with a fascination for X-ray films. X-rays have always captivated me—their ability to reveal the unseen within the body feels both scientific and poetic. By replacing the traditional goat-skin surface of the kompang, a Malay frame drum, with X-ray films, the instrument becomes something else: a bridge between sound, memory, and introspection.
The X-ray, a tool that reveals what lies beneath the surface, becomes a metaphor for identity itself—what exists beyond nationality, beyond external appearance, beyond the visible. The instruments carry images taken from the bodies of family members and close friends. Each drum therefore contains a fragment of an intimate story.
When the kompang is played, these hidden images resonate through sound. What is normally concealed becomes audible. Personal histories, memories, and relationships are activated through rhythm.
The project also reflects my experience of living between cultures. The kompang, a traditional Malay instrument associated with communal celebration and ritual, is transformed through contemporary materials and personal narratives. Tradition and experimentation intersect, creating an object that belongs both to heritage and to contemporary artistic practice.
Through Rhythm of Identity, I invite viewers not only to observe the work but to engage with it. Participation becomes an essential element. As the drums are played, the installation becomes a shared experience, where rhythm moves through the space and through the bodies of those present.
Identity, in this sense, is never fixed. It is something performed, remembered, and continuously reshaped—like rhythm itself, echoing and evolving through time.
— Amir Zainorin
Rhythm of Identity (2024) — installation view, Kapallorek Artspace, Malaysia
