‘Every country gets the circus it deserves,’ wrote novelist Erica Jong. ‘Spain gets bullfights. Italy gets the Catholic Church. America gets Hollywood.’ What kind of a circus does Malaysia deserve? Jalaini Abu Hassan’s second solo exhibition in Singapore bravely illustrates the comic tragedy of a nation and recent political deadlock in the state of Perak as farcical spectacle told through big top allegory.

Showcasing a new series of charcoal on paper, Jalaini (“Jai”) returns to a medium that has not been explored by the artist on the level of a solo exhibition since his series on Malay magicians in Mantera (2004).

The carnival-esque coterie of animals and clowns that take centre stage in this exhibition are biting satire that hint abrasively at the collapse of reason and order. To visualise this regression, Jai returns to drawing as a technique and charcoal as a medium to dramatise in black and white how our humanist ideals have devolved into animalistic buffoonery. Bisik Menjerit offers the entertainment of cartoonish imagery as a criticism on the 21st century’s treatment of political turmoil as media spectacle.