Dani Omar

b. 1996, Malaysia

Based in Kuala Lumpur, Dani Omar has been pursuing his career as an artist since 2014 and graduated from UiTM Malaysia with a Diploma and Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts. For Dani, his art is a way for him to explore, connect, and honour his cultural roots.

With a yearning to remain connected to his heritage, Dani’s art revolves around the complex and colorful, traditional Malaysian handwoven fabric, songket. With a visual language that is both classic and soul-stirring, Dani uses a meticulous approach to aesthetics, incorporating folded structures and motifs from the fabric to form a narrative. His style encompasses elements of still life, contrasting light and shadows to create a sensation of lightness through the folds of the fabric. Merging Malaysian cultural heritage and his own memories, Dani’s work is an emotional memoir dedicated to Malaysia – it exists as a way for him to honor his cultural heritage, explore his past, and ground him to his truest self.

Dani’s work has been featured in various group exhibitions, placing first in the Heritage Art Competition in the Oil and Acrylic category in 2019. In 2023, Dani had his first solo exhibition, ‘A Single Thread Affair’, at TAKSU Kuala Lumpur which was a widely received and largely sold-out show.