Kampung Boy: Yesterday and Today

Lat born Datuk Mohd Nor Khalid in March 1951 was raised in a village community, a kampung in Kota Bahru, Perak, Malaysia. In 1964 his first cartoon was printed in Majallah Filem, a Singapore publishing house, but got his big break at the age of 13 when Sinaran Brothers in Penang published his comic book Tiga Sekawan (Three Friends Catch a Theif, 1964). Drawing since his school days his cartoons have become a part of Malaysian life and culture, particularly his much-loved autobiographical comic The Kampung Boy (1979). Lat recounts his childhood growing up in Malaysia as a village kid in the 1950’s through the character Mat, an adventurer and mischief maker, he goes on fishing trips, works on his family’s rubber plantation and attends religious school but many traditional ways of life are steadily disappearing with family farms and kampungs being replaced by tin mines and factory jobs.

This work features in Mangasia: Wonderlands of Asian Comics, a Barbican International Enterprises exhibition, curated by Paul Gravett. Mangasia presents a vivid journey through the art of Comics and visual storytelling across Asia. From its historical roots to the most recent digital innovations, the exhibition looks to popular Japanese ‘Manga’ and beyond, highlighting key creators, characters and publications.