With a writing style that’s thematically similar to Irvine Welsh (and with praise from the man himself on the front sleeve of his book), Malaysian-Australian Omar Musa is Art on Two Legs. Besides being an accomplished spoken word artist (check out his TEDxSydney performance – it’s both powerful and fluid, sliding through the backyards of Canberra like a carefree skateboarder), musician and poet, last year he published his first book, Here Come the Dogs, a story about three disaffected youths. Penang Monthly talked to him when he was in town for a two-month artist’s residency at Hotel Penaga to chat about identity, belonging and Russell Crowe.
How do you identify yourself? Do you see yourself more as Australian or Malaysian?
I’ve always said that I’m Malaysian- Australian. If I really had to be specific, I guess since I was born and raised in Australia, I’m more Australian than Malaysian. But I’m interested in this idea of becoming a hybrid identity; people will always want to make you choose sides, and I’ve decided to have that hyphen to show that it’s actually okay to be in between cultures.
