Bibichun
(b. 1983) is currently one of Malaysia’s most prominent street artists. He majored in Graphic Design at Tunku Abdul Rahman College, graduating with a Diploma in Mass Communication in 2005. Since then he has completed several commission projects and taken part in exhibitions and live events in urban centers all over Malaysia. Bibichun and They have just returned from painting graffiti for the Malaysian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo in PR China, and will head to Bangkok, Thailand to participate in the live graffiti painting event Silent Stage. Bibichun splits his time between Kuala Lumpur and Penang where he works as an illustrator of children’s books.

When Bibichun bombs a wall with graffiti hardly anything is planned in advance.  “I’m just searching my own self. I don’t have a proper fixed identity; my blood is mixed up, my language is mixed up, my whole life is a blend of everything so I’m just… flexible.” For The Energy Trap he hinted at something “very different” to express the new and strange experience of painting graffiti for an exhibition audience. He describes the project as a kind of “cultural exchange”. “And at the same time we are trying to convey a message: that our medium can cross over to other borders but others cannot cross over to ours.”

They
(b.1982) a “writer” of graffiti in Malaysia for more than 8 years, his street art is in demand for commission and event projects all over Kuala Lumpur. They studied a Diploma in Fashion & Textile Design at the Malaysian Institute of Art, and graduated in 2004. They and Bibichun have just returned from painting graffiti for the Malaysian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo in PR China, and soon head to Bangkok, Thailand to participate in the live graffiti painting event Silent Stage. They founded They Art Studio in Kuala Lumpur, and has organized several art exhibitions. He also customizes products and spaces with graffiti and mural painting, and teaches art and graffiti classes and workshops.

They’s work for The Energy Trap, Susuk Dinding, is a play on the idea of transferring and sharing energy to make something beautiful, with the artist as bomoh or witch doctor.  He creates it under Rare Reborn - a series, informed by Batik design and Bahasa Melayu, about identity and about being a Malaysian graffiti artist stuck somewhere between urban and traditional cultures. They is excited about the platform of a painting & sculpture exhibition to showcase graffiti. “This is something cool actually, something shocking. I think it’s right for people to understand what I do, and anyway this is not like just a wall - it’s people who appreciate visuals and really want to explore about it, so it’d be too bad for me if I just leave a question mark.” But They also admits there are barriers between street artists and the ‘art world’. “We scream; it’s like the difference between speakers and earphones. And we have a different audience, in terms of communication, so this project is like learning to say ‘Hello’ in a different language.”