ANALYZING MALAYNESS IN WOMEN’S PAINTINGS USING PANOFSKY’S ICONOGRAPHY THEORY

This study aims to examine Malaysian women's identities in art using Erwin Panofsky's iconography analysis, which has three levels: pre-iconographical description, iconographical analysis, and iconographical interpretation. The Malay artists' fight in 1958 to meet the need for identity searching inspired modern women revivalists to go on this quest. This was caused by the severe identity problem that Malaysian women painters went through from the 1950s to the 1970s. So, by rethinking what it means to be "Malay" and its cultural aspect, Malaysian women artists try to show an identity that goes along with Malay arts. This paper examines the Malay identity in Malaysian women's paintings using the art appreciation description method to examine the form and content of Malaysian women's images. To reach the goals listed above, visual content analysis is used. The conclusion of this paper will show how Malaysian women's paintings from the 1970s to the 1990s show the rise of Malay arts and cultural heritage ideals. Using the field of heritage arts, this piece will show what it means to be "Malay" by looking at the shape and content of each painting.