Don’t Cry My Friend 

WUJUD/EXIST
2023 May, Temu House (Petaling Jaya, MY)
Curated by Sharmin Parameswaran and Jerome Kugan


List of Works:

Don’t Cry My Friend Series
Embroidery on badminton racquet, approx. 21 x 67 cm each, 2023 –⁠

Best Friednship Award
Custom cast resin on readymade trophy, 15 x 35 x 8.5 cm, edition of 8, 2023

Project assistant: You Jia Xin

The Lee Chong Wei–Lin Dan rivalry (2004–18) is hailed as one of the greatest in the history of badminton, echoing the Federer–Nadal rivalry in tennis. Of their 40 meetings, Lin won 28 head-to-head battles, including the Olympic, World Championship and other major tournament finals. Even though Lin achieved a "Super Grand Slam" at the age of 28 by winning all nine premier titles, Datuk Lee won 47 Super Series titles and was ranked the world’s top player for 349 weeks. This rivalry motivated each other to become better players and, somewhat paradoxically, both shuttlers are also good friends on and off the court. A viral heartfelt “love letter” believed to have been penned by Lin was circulated on the internet after his defeat to Datuk Lee during the Rio Olympics semifinal in 2016. Its veracity was promptly dismissed by an annoyed-looking Datuk Lee during a press conference. “Do you think we’re in love?” he asked. This series attempts to feminise and reimagine the potential bromance between both alpha male athletes through a series of embroidered works based on images sourced online.