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Disquietude & Disconsolation.

Video diptych with material residue.

This two-part work operates as a durational study of self and skin as contested sites of containment. In Disquietude, the gesture unfolds with a tentative choreography. Each peel becomes a negotiation between presence and disassociation. Time elongates and the body becomes a surface for quiet resistance.

Disconsolation accelerates into a form of erasure. The act is no longer exploratory but compulsive, stripping away with a fatigue that borders on indifference. The body becomes both agent and object, enacting a private exorcism through repetitive gesture.

The material traces left behind, thin translucent husks, function less as remains and more as echoes, formalising the tension between embodiment and estrangement. What emerges is not catharsis but a suspended state of becoming undone.

Lihat apa yang sudah berlaku!

Installation with sculpture and spatial intervention.


This work responds to the absence of comprehensive sex education in Malaysia and the resulting consequences of cultural taboo and systemic silence. Inspired by real cases of infant abandonment, it reflects on a generation left uninformed, where conversations around sex, consent, and reproductive rights were deliberately omitted or delayed.
Anchored in personal and cultural memory, it reflects on the silence that precedes harm and the aftermath that remains unspoken. Here, the architecture of neglect is rendered tangible, and the gesture of disposal becomes impossible to ignore.

What is seen is not a spectacle but a residue. The installation holds space for a conversation never had, echoing a collective forgetting dressed in the language of cleanliness, control, and quiet grief.

i am not me.
A photographic study in fragmented identity through set visual themes.


This series was created in response to a school project where each photograph had to reflect a specific theme: portrait, still life, untamed, landscape, architecture, movement, monochrome, and night. While others approached the themes in literal or conventional ways, this series leans into darker, more introspective territory.
Each image takes the assigned theme and turns it into something unsettling or ambiguous. The portrait avoids recognition. The still life feels abandoned. Movement is shown as a blur or pause. Night becomes a space of confrontation rather than comfort.

i am not me uses the structure of the assignment as a way to question how identity is presented, distorted, or hidden. Instead of offering clear answers, the work allows space for discomfort, detachment, and quiet refusal.

The Femergence.
A visual publication chronicling the history and language of feminist movements.


Created as part of a design assignment, The Femergence is a magazine-style publication accompanied by a 2020 calendar. Both were developed to trace the evolution of feminism from the early suffragette movement to contemporary countercultures such as Riot Grrrl.
Built using Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator, the project combines research with bold design choices. The visual language is intentionally gritty and unapologetic, reflecting the rebellious spirit of Riot Grrrl culture. Bold typography, layered textures, and high-contrast visuals are used to echo the urgency, frustration, and empowerment embedded in the movement.

Beyond its content, The Femergence frames design as an active force within feminist discourse. It invites readers to consider how protest and politics take shape not only in action, but also in how information is seen, read, and remembered.

© 2024 MARISA SAIRA. All rights reserved.

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