Soraya's Affairs with Imaging Selfs

Soraya herself is an artist in her own right – a photo-grapher – with a penchant for depicting images that are unseen to the average person’s eye. Recently, her collection named ‘Imaging Selfs,’ was exhibited at Kuala Lumpur City Centre’s Petronas Gallery in November 2008, lasting all the way to mid-January 2009.Soraya’s work represents long working relationships that sometimes stem from or develop into friendships. She believes that to photograph a person, she has to get to know him or her personally. Especially with limelight personalities, she takes her time to digest their non-starlet lives – the way they behave as the average human being would do – what their roles are as a spouse, parent or chid.A photograph depicting the country’s favourite pop icon, Datuk Siti Nurhaliza, outplaced Siti from her comfort zone on stage entertaining an audience. Instead, she was photographed as a demure Malay woman in traditional baju kurung garb with her hair covered in a light shawl. Apparently, Siti is lost in thought in a world beyond a glass door while a forgotten book is cradled in her palms. The sincerity of the picture is easily translated from her successful stardom and adoration of her fans.In another picture, national poet-writer Datuk A Samad Said is seen seated on a naked floor under a dim light. He is engaged deeply in a sketch of a possible kuda kepang. Samad’s natural demeanour speaks of the simple comforts and pleasures in his life that gel with his passion and interest..