Looking back at M’sia through our grandparents’ eyes

Sonia Latha, a 24-year-old Malaysian historian and independent curator, made a surprising discovery after her maternal grandfather's passing. He had spent years quietly preserving an archive of family history, including old photographs, newspaper clippings, diaries, and memorabilia dating from the 1930s to the 1990s. This inspired Sonia to reach out to people she knew and encourage them to share photographs of their own grandparents.

The result was "Grandparents: A Living Archive 1.0," a community-driven exhibition featuring about 70 to 80 photographs preserved by families, with none of them publicly displayed before. The photographs cover a wide range of topics, from family portraits and celebrations to scenes of work, migration, education, family businesses, and quieter moments of domestic and social life.

Sonia hopes the exhibition will inspire visitors to view history differently, emphasizing that regular people also lived through and viewed historical events in their own unique ways.