Faces and Phases: a photography exhibition by Jahabar Sadiq and R. Din

When the name Jahabar Sadiq is mentioned, usually only one thing comes to mind – the guy who runs The Malaysian Insider. He certainly is that, but a whole lot more. Among his many talents in life is photography, for which he has a special passion. It is perhaps the one thing he devotes himself most to when not immersed in the news.

He first picked up his mother’s camera, a rangefinder Canonet QL 35mm, when he was 6 years old, and according to Jahabar, he was terrible with it. But his fascination with cameras never died away.

He started his career in journalism as a crime reporter, and later went on to become a television news producer for Reuters Television. During this time, Jahabar visually documented his work and travels, which took him as far east as Australia, and to Afghanistan on the western extreme.

Today, many years after his early experimentation with his mother’s camera, Jahabar still owns the Canonet QL 35mm. But these days, he typically shoots with an Olympus E-M5, a Fujifilm X100 or a little Minox Leica M3. And, any of his smartphones or the occasional film camera.

In addition to The Malaysian Insider for which he is most known for, Jahabar also runs InciteMyTV, a recently launched online video portal.

Joining Jahabar in this exhibition is R. Din, a shy but talented photographer with an eye for composition, color and light, most likely due to a career in television years ago.

Preferring to remain anonymous, R. Din began sharing photos through Instagram, in particular a trip to Morocco a few years back. Jahabar went through R. Din's album and found several photos that showed much promise.

Jahabar hopes (as we do) that R. Din will continue to shoot for years to come, preferably with a digital camera rather than just a smartphone for the next album.

The exhibition has been co-curated by Jahabar himself, and by Ria Johanna Waran, an artist, interior designer and art curator. Ria curated Jahabar's first solo exhibition back in 2006, and another one in 2009 at the iconic RBS Bank building in Penang. Originally from Finland, Ria now lives in Malaysia.

faces and phases begins its run on Saturday, May 10, and continues until Tuesday, June 3, 2014. An official opening reception will be held at 3pm on Tuesday, May 13, 2014. The guests of honor for the event shall be Datuk Faridah Begum and Professor C.M. Vickneswaran, both of whom will officiate the opening.