It is that time of the year again when many of us go through the familiar ritual of reflecting on what the past 12 months have been about. And no doubt in the coming days, The Year That Was 2008 will be the theme for many media stories.

Only a couple of days ago, I caught myself musing about the life I had lived in the past 12 months. It’s been a year of milestones, of shocks and surprises, of revelations and much growing up (on the basis of a personal philosophy that we learn something new each day of our life).

And I have been so blessed at times to have quick access to “hindsight” – that bastion of wisdom so scarce in these days of instant everything – and therefore be able to understand why certain things happen (for a good reason).

Would lessons learnt these past 12 months enrich my DNA – not the building blocks that make up the physical and biological me but the mental and emotional essence of me? Would the experiences make me a better person? Would the laughter and tears, the jubilance and the despair, the successes and the failures have a positive impact on me?

I guess a similar question (albeit on a much larger scale) must have struck Lim Wei-Ling, the curator of the exhibition 2008 The Year That Was currently showing in her gallery in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.

Three months ago Lim asked six local artists to put on canvas their takes on this year. It’s a very interesting choice of artists: they are artists either known for works of the “self-searching / discovery” type (albeit at a personal level, wondering about and working out the meaning of their very existence), or artists whose works of art have been variously described as satirical, thought-provoking, or intellectual commentaries.

Between them, these six artists have previously explored themes of equality, respect, and responsibilities in their artworks, at times delving into the depth of their respective value and belief systems to be the basis of their art-making.

Hamir Soib’s No(n)sense looks askance at how Malaysia has lived through 2008.

The Cleansing Rituals of Noor Azizan Paiman suggest that, over the past 12 months, there have been many acts of cleansing or samak (the Islamic practice of cleansing something to make it acceptable or reusable) in this country. In fact, there are nine “cleansing rituals” in all, each referring to an event of major public interest. The question is whether the people of this country have been able to move on, or to gain closure on their particular circumstance. Collectively, have we as a country been able to learn from our mistakes and grow a bit more in wisdom and maturity?

Or could our collective memory be as hazy about the past as K. Azril has shown in his Present, Past and Future series of light boxes ? Could we have become so blasé about events that some would say have shaped our lives and even the lives of generations to come that even our immediate past is not widely known?

I had a chance conversation with two young adults a few months ago who had never heard about the talks between our first Prime Minister, Tunku Andul Rahman, and leader of the Malayan Communist Party, Chin Peng at Baling, Kedah. I wondered whether they would ever understand the crucial role played by the Malay Rulers in opposing theMalayan Union, or further down the historical path, the pivotal event of the assassination of the Resident of Perak, J.W.W. Birch.

Zaid Ibrahims's attempted Government reforms is turned into one of Noor Azizan's Paiman's Cleansing Rutuals artworks.

Have we learnt anything from our past and from our present?

Juhari Said, Marvin Chan, and Hamir Soib touch on this theme in their socio-political commentaries. There are hints of disdain and irreverence in Chan and Hamir’s observations of the way we lived our lives in 2008, while Juhari sees hopes and dreams for the future – but only just, so some people may find Juhari’s Portrait monoprints to be just as depressing a commentary as Azril’s light boxes.

Perhaps R. Jeganathan sums it up aptly in his Bird Brain poem.

I have a story to tell

of a fish which had the head of a bird

it wandered many times about this obscure reality

but the fish never realizing it was the head of donkey

wagged its tail every time it wants to swim

So goes the story of life

each of us think

we own the moment … never realizing

that the moment stays awhile and moves past us

We own nothing … we are only a part of the act of life

It is sad that this ignorance

has taken centre stage in our life

in ignorance man is believing ...

HE OWNS.

Or could the plain truth be that we are still searching, struggling to retain the DNA that makes up the sum total of us Malaysians, unaware that we need to learn from the experiences of 2008 and grow and become more mature? It’s clichéd I know, but its time for an honest (and brutal) reflection, I think.

‘2008: The Year That Was’ is on display until Dec 29 at Wei-Ling Gallery (No. 8, Jalan Scott, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur). Opening hours are noon to 7pm Monday to Friday, and 10am to 5pm on Saturday.For more information, call 03-2260 1106 or go to weiling-gallery.com.