Mantera was a solo exhibition of dark, sooty drawings in charcoal, bitumen, and ink on paper by Jalaini Abu Hassan that explored the world of Malay animism—its myths, superstitions, and ideas of the supernatural. Jalaini adopted the role of an artist as alchemist—or bomoh, the local term for black magicians—to dabble in the symbols and icons of Malay superstition, conjuring shadowy forms of rocks, insects, animals, and plants commonly used as charms or sacrifices in black magic rituals. The artist drew from his own memories of a male relative who was the local bomoh of his kampung. The exhibition was significant because it marked the artist’s first foray into figurative drawing with charcoal and bitumen—mediums that would eventually become his signature—and also because of its tendentious subject, which does not always sit comfortably alongside Malay-Muslim identity.