Sunday, March 4, 2012
Research: Chronology on 1970 -2007 Multi/Trans/Inter-Disciplinary Arts Events in Malaysia
Research: Chronology on 1970 -2007 Multi/Trans/Inter-Disciplinary Arts Events in Malaysia. Paper was presented and honored seed funding from HOM. Thus, the ambitious and naive intuition cause several problem in the progress of researching such as: 1970 -2007 is a huge load of works for a researcher, its involving few decades stories and lacking of technique/experience in research as well. WELCOME for feedback and two cents for advance progress. Bow.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Innovative insights
By PRIYA KULASAGARAN
http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2010/2/28/education/5740062&sec=education
educate@thestar.com.my
Creativity is about empowering students with the ability to look at the world in new ways
IN a brigh and cheerful room, a small group of preschoolers quietly embark on the day’s art lesson.
Filled with colourful plastic furniture and small pamphlets proclaiming “crash courses” in creativity, the environment appears to provide a haven for young minds to nurture their imagination.
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| Future inventors: Creativity enables students to think in new ways and come up with unorthodox solutions. |
“This is where I’m going to live when I grow up,” she says proudly.
It is a typical child’s drawing of sorts; smiling stick-people beside a structured square house, flanked by rows of purple trees.
The teacher, however, has some reservations.
“This is wrong,” she says. “Trees aren’t purple, they have to be green.”
Peering over the other drawings, the teacher proceeds to admonish her charges for committing other cardinal art sins, such as colouring outside lines and generating anatomically incorrect house pets.
As the children swiftly erase their mistakes, the teacher explains her creative centre’s philosophy.
“It is important for children to learn to express themselves, and our crash courses offer them a quick way to become more creative.”
A week later, Mei Lin’s father, Lim Chee Hong, pulls her out of the class.
“She loves to draw, so I thought the classes were a good way for her to meet other children her age while doing what she likes,” says Lim.
“After going there for two months, I noticed a change - she used to paint with abandon, now she obsesses over drawing a perfect circle.”
Being out-of-the-box
With all the buzz over the knowledge economy, even policy-makers are stressing that creativity is de rigueur for Malaysia to put itself on the map.
Just last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launched Malaysia Innovative 2010.
“Innovation creates jobs and boosts national competitiveness,” wrote Najib on his blog last year, when declaring 2010 to be the Year of Creativity and Innovation.
“This is why we, too, must make a creative impact in a competitive global economy.”
But what determines the makeup of a creative individual?
Defining the concept of creativity itself requires some imagination; some researchers speculate that there may be over 60 definitions of what creativity is.
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| Najib and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor singing along with schoolchildren and VIPs during the launch of Malaysia Innovative 2010. — File photo |
At a more humble level, most of us will probably identify a creative person as someone who is able to think from different perspectives and come up with novel ideas.
An educationist with a local insitution says that while it is crucial to harness creativity for the economic marketplace, it is important to adopt a holistic approach to teaching it.
“We cannot purely focus on directing creativity in one particular area, such as information technology, if we want to engage students beyond a superficial level,” he says.
“Creativity should not be seen as an end-product or a commodity, but a lifelong process of trial and error.”
He adds that students should be exposed to a range of disciplines in order to develop their creative faculties.
“Co-curricular subjects such as music and sports give our students an edge just as other academic subjects will.
“As the world is becoming more and more visual each day, the education system has to move towards right brain activities so that students are able to see issues and problems from different points of view.
“Even with our academic subjects, mere rote-learning to memorise pages of factual information is not enough to equip students with the sort of analytical thinking skills needed for the current era,” adds the educationist.
Teachers
In his talk titled “Why Schools Kill Creativity”, creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson argues that educational systems around the world rob children of their imagination.
“Children have an enormous propensity for creativity because they have a natural sense of curiosity.
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| Robinson says that current school systems around the world are killing creativity because of their rigidity. |
Still widely circulated on video-sharing website YouTube three years on, it is clear Robinson’s point of view resonates with a fair number of people.
It is fair to point out that no country serious about education wants to actively take away the innovation of its people.
Indeed, our own National Education Philosophy states the ministry’s desire to “develop the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner” so as to produce individuals who are able to contribute to society.
From pre-school to secondary education, the curriculum stresses the need to foster creative thinking skills amongst students.
However, former teacher Ramlah Mahmood says that the entire framework of education in Malaysia needs to be overhauled if we are to develop a more innovative culture.
“Teachers are frequently called upon to be more creative with their teaching methods in order to engage with their students,” she says.
“But engaging students through interesting lessons doesn’t always mean that they’ll be able to score high marks in examinations.
“Unfortunately, the value of your teaching is ultimately measured by how many A scorers you produce. It’s how schools are judged and what many parents expect.”
Ramlah adds that when she was teaching, she had to choose between finishing the syllabus or planning lively lessons.
“Teachers are so swamped by other duties and unnecessary paperwork, making them hard-pressed for time,” she adds.
Teacher Marion Lee agrees, saying underlying factors within the system tend to get in the away of inculcating creativity and making students think out of the box.
“I think the main problem in our school culture is that students have this enormous pressure to be right all the time.
“But in order to be innovative, you have to be prepared to come up with ideas that initially may seem impractical and impossible to many”.
Echoing Mei Lin’s purple tree experience, Marion says that there have been numerous occasions where her colleagues had reprimanded or belittled students for giving unorthodox solutions.
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| Learning through the arts: Tan Hui Koon facilitating an arts workshop for children in Penang. |
However, she admits that traits associated with creative students, such as challenging conventions and being expressive, tend to cause disruptions in the traditional Asian classroom.
“When you are dealing with 30-odd students and you need to complete the chapter of the day, it’s a constant effort to make sure that the entire class reach the minimum level of understanding
“In an ideal world, I will be able to cater to all the students according to their various learning styles; in reality, I do get impatient with those who insist on asking questions all the time.”
Youth speak
While the rest of the country debates on how best to harness the new generation’s creative potential, it appears that students have more pragmatic concerns on their minds.
From the many secondary students interviewed for this article, the prevailing view from most of them is whether their schooling experience would help them find suitable jobs.
Ahmad Tajuddin, 17, thinks that lessons in creativity are a must so that students are able secure employment in the future.
“The whole point of going to school is so that I may qualify for university and then get a decent job,” he says.
“Since employers expect potential employees to have good problem-solving skills, schools should focus on helping us develop that sort of creativity.
“If we’re only going to learn that in university, it may be too late.”
A significant number of students also had a very specific view of what being creative meant.
“Oh, I can never be creative – I can’t draw,” says Vanessa Nathan on why she chose to enter the science stream instead of the arts.
Unwittingly, the 16-year-old then reveals that her brain may be more innovative than she allows herself credit for.
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| Some teachers find it hard to pay attention to students who display creative traits because they have to cater to large classrooms and various other duties. |
“I love Mathematics because it’s almost as if I think in numbers, and the world makes most sense to me when I break it down into statistics.”
“In my school, the ‘smart’ students are streamed into the sciences, while the less academically able do arts.
“Because of that, the science classes get the best teachers and are pushed more, while the only expectation of arts students is that they pass their exams.”
Vikram Chandra, 17, is noticably incensed by the marked division between the arts and sciences.
“It really annoys me when my friends say that only science subjects allow space for analytical thinking, and that I’m wasting my mind and time by choosing to do arts,” he says.
“These same people memorise entire Physics experiments from their textbooks and regurgitate the information during examinations – how does that promote critical thinking?”
He adds that for him, creativity is all about making unorthodox links to dsicover new solutions.
“There will be more room for creativity if students are exposed to fields in both the arts and sciences.
“For example, if someone is interested in both fashion and chemistry, he may be able to come up environmentally-friendly clothing designs.
Artistic licence
Despite the increased appreciation of creative industries and their roles in national development, arts education is still lacklustre at best.
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| Creativity is about expression and does not necessarily require one to obsess over drawing or colouring within the lines. |
One headmistress, who declined to be named, admits that arts lessons, along with physical education classes, are seen as low priority by both her staff and students.
“This is especially so for batches who are preparing for national level examinations, when students opt to use those class times to do revision instead.
“Since its not an examinable subject, no one is interested,” she says.
Visual artist and lecturer Tan Hui Koon says that the arts are useful in unlocking creativity and transferring knowledge.
“This involves a two-fold process; teaching creatively and teaching for creativity,” she says.
“Artistic disciplines such as theatre and literature in themselves help students think laterally and imaginatively, as well as make them more confident at expressing themselves.
“Meanwhile, using art forms during class will help students digest information more easily; an example would be using pop songs to teach a new language.”
From her own experience in conducting arts workshops with children, Tan says that her main goal is to get students to think for themselves.
“It’s not about producing future Picassos or visionaries, but empowering students with the ability to look at the world through exciting new ways. In that context, creativity is about allowing people to use their individual talents to engage with the world around them.”
Quite Show
Quite
http://dailyserving.com/quite
http://www.annexegallery.com/index.php?option=com_eventlist&view=details&id=241:quite&Itemid=28
http://www.klue.com.my/articles/3507-Quite-at-the-Annexe-Gallery
Quite is a group show held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with five Singaporean and three Malaysian artists. The artists are Angela Chong, Ezzam Rahman, Stellah Lim, Nur Ain, Ghazi Alqudcy, Aswad Ameir, Azharr Rudin and Tan Hui Koon.
Aswad Ameir is a multi-disciplinary artist who works with painting, installations and objects. In Quite, Ameir built a white shrine in the style of an old wooden chapel much like the ones you’d see on a farm. Called Small Things, Ameir drew inspiration from Booker prize winner, Arundhati Roy’s fiction novel, God of Small Things. The work deals with childhood memories, safety and security one might feel stepping into a place of worship.
Aswad Ameir, Small Things, Installation, courtesy of Angela Chong
Azharr Ruddin who was originally trained in filmmaking molded a statue of a child complete with detailed facial features. He added a base container and filled it with corn starch, honey and strawberry to obtain a reddish-maroon color similar to the color of blood. In the sculpture, he inserted a tube and attached a motor to allow the water to pass through the body of the child and exit from a small hole which he made on the forehead. One look at the artwork and one will definitely be intrigued by the liquid and child standing atop of it. Looking more like a premature child, the liquid is actually edible and fellow artist, Angela Chong, whose installation-based artwork consist of a game with a prize where a cup of the red liquid is given to the winner. Azhar’s pre-occupation with blood, however sinister this may sound, is inspired by a film script he had written. In this script, a scene where the lead actor is having a seizure and vomiting blood on the floor, had stuck to his mind. His work in actual fact explores re-birth, renewal and death of the past.
Ghazi Alqudcy’s phone booth of interviews with three men of various ethnicities – Indian, Chinese and Malay made me cringe. These three men were recorded talking to the voice of a young woman who is about the age of fourteen. What the men don’t know is that it is Ghazi himself who is mimicking the voice of the young woman on the other end. Much like a phone sex chat service, the men reveal their deepest darkest secrets unknowingly to Ghazi who is recording them. The interviews are then installed into a dark blue phone booth to emphasize the sort of anonymity one wants when making calls to another person in order to hide their mobile numbers.
Ghazi Alqudcy, I am older than I was when we first got together, Installation, courtesy of Angela Chong
Trained as a jeweler, Stellah Lim’s objects are made from hair and objects from friends and close ones. She replicated these objects from people had been an influence on her with hair, and as a part of this installation, framed images of people without facial features. Representing her closest ones without facial features, Stellah’s work is talking about presence and absence. As a child, Stellah would use hand-me-downs to invent what was happening in the other person’s mind. If she had a used textbook with notes in it, she wondered what the previous owner articulated as if he or she is beside her in class. Interestingly, this habit of owning used objects carried on into her adult life as Stellah had a habit of buying used items from eBay. She feels it is not purely a habit but a way of owning a product with a history in someone else’s life. Just like the frames she bought online to house her painted works, she described them as important objects that once held family portraits but ceased to function like it was before once the person/family member has passed on.
Quite was showing at The Annexe in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia till 21st November 2010.
http://dailyserving.com/quite
http://www.annexegallery.com/index.php?option=com_eventlist&view=details&id=241:quite&Itemid=28
http://www.klue.com.my/articles/3507-Quite-at-the-Annexe-Gallery
Quite is a group show held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with five Singaporean and three Malaysian artists. The artists are Angela Chong, Ezzam Rahman, Stellah Lim, Nur Ain, Ghazi Alqudcy, Aswad Ameir, Azharr Rudin and Tan Hui Koon.
Aswad Ameir is a multi-disciplinary artist who works with painting, installations and objects. In Quite, Ameir built a white shrine in the style of an old wooden chapel much like the ones you’d see on a farm. Called Small Things, Ameir drew inspiration from Booker prize winner, Arundhati Roy’s fiction novel, God of Small Things. The work deals with childhood memories, safety and security one might feel stepping into a place of worship.
Aswad Ameir, Small Things, Installation, courtesy of Angela Chong
Azharr Ruddin who was originally trained in filmmaking molded a statue of a child complete with detailed facial features. He added a base container and filled it with corn starch, honey and strawberry to obtain a reddish-maroon color similar to the color of blood. In the sculpture, he inserted a tube and attached a motor to allow the water to pass through the body of the child and exit from a small hole which he made on the forehead. One look at the artwork and one will definitely be intrigued by the liquid and child standing atop of it. Looking more like a premature child, the liquid is actually edible and fellow artist, Angela Chong, whose installation-based artwork consist of a game with a prize where a cup of the red liquid is given to the winner. Azhar’s pre-occupation with blood, however sinister this may sound, is inspired by a film script he had written. In this script, a scene where the lead actor is having a seizure and vomiting blood on the floor, had stuck to his mind. His work in actual fact explores re-birth, renewal and death of the past.
Ghazi Alqudcy’s phone booth of interviews with three men of various ethnicities – Indian, Chinese and Malay made me cringe. These three men were recorded talking to the voice of a young woman who is about the age of fourteen. What the men don’t know is that it is Ghazi himself who is mimicking the voice of the young woman on the other end. Much like a phone sex chat service, the men reveal their deepest darkest secrets unknowingly to Ghazi who is recording them. The interviews are then installed into a dark blue phone booth to emphasize the sort of anonymity one wants when making calls to another person in order to hide their mobile numbers.
Ghazi Alqudcy, I am older than I was when we first got together, Installation, courtesy of Angela Chong
Trained as a jeweler, Stellah Lim’s objects are made from hair and objects from friends and close ones. She replicated these objects from people had been an influence on her with hair, and as a part of this installation, framed images of people without facial features. Representing her closest ones without facial features, Stellah’s work is talking about presence and absence. As a child, Stellah would use hand-me-downs to invent what was happening in the other person’s mind. If she had a used textbook with notes in it, she wondered what the previous owner articulated as if he or she is beside her in class. Interestingly, this habit of owning used objects carried on into her adult life as Stellah had a habit of buying used items from eBay. She feels it is not purely a habit but a way of owning a product with a history in someone else’s life. Just like the frames she bought online to house her painted works, she described them as important objects that once held family portraits but ceased to function like it was before once the person/family member has passed on.
Quite was showing at The Annexe in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia till 21st November 2010.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Sebukit Bintang : Stars On The Hill
Sebukit Bintang : Stars On The Hill
NZ Phang Yow Kit and Diana Phang Lai Peng
Sebukit Bintang (Stars On The Hill): Is delicates to my former students who are giving me a shock to magnificent into them in a complex and spectacle perspective that I essentially lacked in reality. Sebukit Bintang (Stars on the hill) is to discover and encourage the young artists and designers to become an agent of change. Welcome to every teachers, lecturers, parents, and even among the students to send in the articles to pool the Stars and rock the hill.
Being two years and half teaching and preaching in art, I have to admit it’s quite a painful yearning process especially the commitment to the students is partially vital. First of all I have to be versatile so that I won’t be judgmental to all sorts of human neuron psychology characters whereby follow up with the most crucial part is to calculate the ability of creativities and innovative into digits. Nevertheless ideal in art is not to judge the individual’s subjectivity but to the objective of art are infinity possibilities.
James Elkins‘s “Why Art Cannot Be Taught”, pg 30: “Contemporary teachers adhere to this in that they do not try to foist a uniform standard on each student they advised. Instead they try to feel their way to an understanding of what each student is all about. Teachers acknowledge that everyone has different ideals, directions, talents, and potentials. That sense of individuality is quintessentially Romantic.”
Contemporary sounds very recent but the ideal of unaffected individual natural expression leads oneself into a state of liberality has revolted since Romantic Movement.
I was amused most of the time and still to the late exposure of art education among the youngster who desperately try to capsulate and empower the skills of the mighty word of ‘art’ in a very short time. This is the purpose of Sebukit Bintang (Stars On The Hill) to discover the fascinating stories that hidden in every corner of the urban landscape, far away from home town that inspired and aspired at the bottom from our he(art).
This article is especially for NZ Phang (Yow Kit) and respectively Diana Phang Lai Peng with their beloved families who are generously to share with us about a mysterious and greatness mural painter who is among one of the painters who painted the longest mural in the world.
NZ Phang (Yow Kit), my dear former student came to me at one day and surprises me with the story of his uncle, the painter of Pudu Jail longest mural in the world. I was astonished because of I always adore to this hand painted longest mural in the world and really believe in art is the savage of soul: art as meditation and healing.
In front of me, NZ who looks more convincing in his social and practical personality rather than he is coming from an artisan family. Unfortunately NZ only know a little about his uncle’s legacy and luckily his family kindly faxed me the only paper cutting they kept.
Five Fingers Painted The Famous Walls by Li You (李友)
New Life Post新生活报
24.2.1993 Wednesday
New Life Post新生活报
24.2.1993 Wednesday
Five Fingers Painted The Famous Walls by Li You (李友)
Who will come to their mind when they look at this sloppy looks Pang Sun Qiang (directly translate from mandarin name) is one of the painter of the Pudu Jail’s wall, mural painting at Country Heights Kajang and developing urban residence. Although he was paid well by doing these mural painting jobs for high ranking officer where as he still in poverty, so he blamed the drugs.
You won’t find Phang Sun Qiang’s name in the artist’s directories. He wasn’t trained, never enters into any competition nor related with any art association; but his paintings are collected and hang in the VIP’s room as decoration.
Phang (Phang Sun Qiang) is talented in realism painting. With his miracle and skillful technique, he could turn the zinc wall to become an amazing artwork and no wonder some important figures are his collectors.
From the first sight, I couldn’t believe he is the guy who squatting beside the stinky drain meticulously turned the twenty feet long zinc wall into a landscape painting. When I walked closer to him, I was stunned when I saw the tools that he used wasn’t any familiar painting materials but with his fingers and a lousy house painting brush that you even will think twice to pick it up.
“It’s like that lah! As long as you have interest, nothing is impossible.” He opened his husky voice along with his peculiar expression, but nevertheless he is a friendly person to talk to. He told me almost his everything included bad and sweet memories. He charged minimum two hundred for a painting, but for the mural in the Country Heights Kajang he earned ten thousand. A man called Dato’ Mark paid him seven thousand just to paint mural in his house. At the same time he also earned fifty thousand on all his commission artworks from the rich merchants, high rank officers and millionaires.
After few hours chit-chat with him, he shared with me more about his personal stuffs. “It’s useless to earn much; I had chunked all the money to use drugs. I couldn’t go back home to meet my wife and children, it’s shameful and guilty too. I blamed the drugs!”
But he hates the drugs the most while he loves the drugs the most.
Phang spent his youth in the jail. He was being ruthless and involved in all sorts of crimes included stealing and bank robbing. Today, he is 51 year-old, surviving with his own paintings. His mood swing drastically, he can finish a painting without a break when his mood is in tune; vise versa not even one can persuade him to pick up the brush.
Phang’s four season paintings are neither from his distinctive imagination nor his impression from other imageries that he saw from other places; indeed he never experiences any seasons in physically besides the tropical weather in our country. “I don’t know what genius is, but I think interest is the main key. I still remembered my interest was nurtured after watching my dad demonstrated to me how to draw a hen when I was a boy.”
When Phang was finished his standard five in Chinese school, his father wanted to transfer him to study in an English school. At that time he was over age to register the English school but he still succeed to enroll into form one by registered through his younger brother’s birth certificate which name Sah Tee.
Phang afraid that he had disappointed his father’s high expectation, he rather to find a job instead of finish the high school due to lack of interest in study. “Teacher teaches me to read, but I teach teacher to hunt wild boars.” (Pun phrase from: 先生教我读书，我教先生打山猪)
After quitting the school, he became one of the members of triode because of he thought this is the easiest way to make big money. When he realized the truth had turned his dream down then he drowned himself in drugs. Since that he never found his turning point to come back to normal life. “It’s too late, there’s no return”
He only started to paint when he was imprisoned and manage to make it as his survivor skill. He sends few hundred paintings to the warder to please him for sells. The warder paid him sixty ringgit per painting only. He knew his artworks worth more than that amount because of there’s an Australia Merchant acted as an art dealer came to Malaysia to buy his artworks then sold his artworks in Australia.
This Australia benefactor even went through a middle man to approach him again and wished to offer him to travel to the world, in return Phang must paint each country’s sceneries to him.
“Unfortunately I miss this glorious opportunity because of I was sent to Pulau Jerejak, Pulau Pinang just after bailed from jail.” His voice resonant…
对我来说他是一个走错路的聪明人，身为家族的一员，只觉得可惜，为什么他会贩毒？为生活？还是。。。For me, he is just a smart guy who had mistaken the wrong path in his life. As part of this family member, I felt sorry to him and wondering why he used drug. Isn’t for life or….?
墙上的画是爸爸告诉我，对于他是囚犯，我没意见，但是墙上的画，让我引以为傲。因为对我来说，贩毒每个人都可以，在于他要还是不要，是人性的选择。但是那幅墙画，不是你要就能完成，完成它是意志力的表现，天赋的表现，加上他是用手指和布来画。Through my dad’s words of mouth, just I knew about my second uncle is the chic and tongue Pudu Jail mural painter. I have no offensive to him as a prisoner yet I’m taking the pride of the mural. To me, every people have a chance to choose either to be or not to be a drug user, it shows the human truly instinctive nature. But not to this mural, it is not just a matter of desire but must compliment with a strong willpower and great talent; plus he painted with only his fingers and rags.
我爸曾经告诉过我，以前他和二伯一起住过，当时他看见二伯在房间，用手指对着墙壁画画，我爸还问二伯，你在那干嘛？ 结果，他的指纹就印满了那副墙壁。My dad used to live together with my second uncle and witnessed him painted on the wall in his room with his own fingers. At that time my dad still naïvely to ask him: “What are you doing?” and the result was the wall ended up with full of my second uncle’s finger print.
最后一次见，也算是第一次见的他，一只脚因健康问题割断了，而且脸上还有发炎的伤口。当时我才四岁多五岁，看见妈妈买食物给他，我也不知道为什么，当时他的穿着就像乞丐，但是有一种感觉告诉我，他是我的亲人。The first time and also is the last time I met him, he doesn’t looks good. He has to lose one leg and has a swollen face due to heath problem. I think I probably only four to five year old and I still remembered my mom brought him food. It is a strange feeling, although he wore like a beggar but intuitively told me that he is my relative.
每一次经过那副墙，我都会告诉我身边的朋友，那幅墙画我二伯画的和告诉是怎样画的，他们的回应通常是，那幅墙不是囚犯画的吗？我都回答，嗯，他是。Every time I passed by the mural, I will announce to my accompanies the facts of my uncle is the painter and the unique way how he painted the wall. The feed back always is: “aren’t the wall is painted by the prisoners?” and every time I will affirm to them: “Yes! He was.”
破坏前，那幅墙是历史；破坏后，它是历史，也是传说。因为那幅墙不在了。Before the demolition, the mural is a history; so do as after the demolition but also become a legend, because of the wall wasn’t there anymore.
时间的累积，我看见墙的感觉是越来越伤心，因为没有人保护及保养，它一直被破坏。从98年的运动会，在边框上白漆，就已经破坏原本的美，加上近这几年有无名人在上喷Graffiti。Time passes and it become really painful because of there is no cares and restoration vice versa it was being abused all along the time. Since 1998 Commonwealth Game, City Hall had painted the divider of the wall into white; numerous of white frames along the wall had ruined the originality and spoiled the visual aesthetic, even the anonymous did the graffiti on it in recently.
( NZ currently is the president of student body organization)
K: I’m wondering and just an assuming that your uncle must be inspired you a lot, is he influence your study?
NZ: Nop, nothing related with my uncle at all. Eventually I wanted to be a F1 racer but I didn’t get my family’s support. My dad did some product re-invention, they looks cool and practical so that’s why I’m in industrial design.
K: You mentioned that you regret to the Pudu Jail have become now, do you think of taking any action or solution to prevent and save it from the demolition?
NZ: As I said if we decided to keep it, restoration is the priority because of this is a heritage. But how, I really don’t know and I have no idea who should take care of it. I definitely won’t stand out to do demonstration although it is painful for us (me and my family members) to bear the demolition on Pudu Jail because of we only can get know and remember my second uncle through this wall. I do aware that nights before demolition (Pudu Jail) have gather crowds of people who have sentimental value on it; this old land mark really meant something to all of us and told us different stories.
K: Perhaps we should have less shopping mall; de-value the leisure and entertainment in urban planning and developing. Don’t you think of just as simple as to tell your story through a design? Or documenting the wall in nice photography?
NZ: When I was child, my dad never said a word of preserving or documenting the present of the wall, sometime he drove us passing by the mural quietly and started to tell us the story about my uncle. I think this is the way my family kept these memories and feeling in deep. This is new to me; I will keep your advice and think about it.
Photographer, Tan Chee Hon had started his documentary project of Pudu Jail wall painting before it was demolished by developed from UDA early this year. The series was taken from year 2000 to 2010. He kindly let us has a first peep on selected photos from “In Memories Of Pudu Jail Painting ".
K: Thanks for that thought, I’m bemoaning to your plight. From my point of view instead of you are waiting or pointing fingers to others, I think you can start some initiative and play a certain role in this lost. To a certain degrees of pain and regret, will you itinerant these experiences and apply in your career as a designer?
NZ: Something that I never thought about it. Can you be more specific?
K: Let’s say heritage; in everyday we can’t avoid from losing what we inherited from tangible to intangible heritage. For an example tangible as a building and intangible as our lifestyle or the air we are inhale now. The wall is a heritage for you from your uncle; there must be a certain value on the wall that normal people like me never can imagine.
As a designer and you being through the pain of lost, would you be more sensitive to the surrounding that probably significant to somebody else, so that you will make a plan of design that will avoid and reduce the pain of lost, even a design that have the thoughts of carrying the value from the past to the future?
NZ: I would like to move on my life and prefer to choose to not looking back too much. Probably I can keep this in my mind and let it evolve inside me because it’s true that there’s certain value that we should carry on.
After all, I’m very thankful to NZ’s effort to approach Diana Phang Lai Peng, daughter of Pha Tee and let us have a glimpse to this respective family who have went through so much where we can’t imagine.
Diana Phang who prefer stay low profile generously giving her true senses into words and posted on facebook as the response to this informal interview.
NZ Phang Yow Kit and Diana Phang Lai Peng
Sebukit Bintang (Stars On The Hill): Is delicates to my former students who are giving me a shock to magnificent into them in a complex and spectacle perspective that I essentially lacked in reality. Sebukit Bintang (Stars on the hill) is to discover and encourage the young artists and designers to become an agent of change. Welcome to every teachers, lecturers, parents, and even among the students to send in the articles to pool the Stars and rock the hill.
Being two years and half teaching and preaching in art, I have to admit it’s quite a painful yearning process especially the commitment to the students is partially vital. First of all I have to be versatile so that I won’t be judgmental to all sorts of human neuron psychology characters whereby follow up with the most crucial part is to calculate the ability of creativities and innovative into digits. Nevertheless ideal in art is not to judge the individual’s subjectivity but to the objective of art are infinity possibilities.
James Elkins‘s “Why Art Cannot Be Taught”, pg 30: “Contemporary teachers adhere to this in that they do not try to foist a uniform standard on each student they advised. Instead they try to feel their way to an understanding of what each student is all about. Teachers acknowledge that everyone has different ideals, directions, talents, and potentials. That sense of individuality is quintessentially Romantic.”
Contemporary sounds very recent but the ideal of unaffected individual natural expression leads oneself into a state of liberality has revolted since Romantic Movement.
This article is especially for NZ Phang (Yow Kit) and respectively Diana Phang Lai Peng with their beloved families who are generously to share with us about a mysterious and greatness mural painter who is among one of the painters who painted the longest mural in the world.
NZ Phang (Yow Kit), my dear former student came to me at one day and surprises me with the story of his uncle, the painter of Pudu Jail longest mural in the world. I was astonished because of I always adore to this hand painted longest mural in the world and really believe in art is the savage of soul: art as meditation and healing.
In front of me, NZ who looks more convincing in his social and practical personality rather than he is coming from an artisan family. Unfortunately NZ only know a little about his uncle’s legacy and luckily his family kindly faxed me the only paper cutting they kept.
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Profile Picture NZ Phang |
New Life Post新生活报
24.2.1993 Wednesday
In this translation article, the painter is named Pang Sun Qiang (directly translate from mandarin name) and I found his named is Pha Tee in the Star, titled article: Deriving Sense of Freedom from Art dated 21 April 1994, interviewed by Helen Ang, Photographer: Jamah Nasri
New Life Post新生活报
24.2.1993 Wednesday
Five Fingers Painted The Famous Walls by Li You (李友)
Who will come to their mind when they look at this sloppy looks Pang Sun Qiang (directly translate from mandarin name) is one of the painter of the Pudu Jail’s wall, mural painting at Country Heights Kajang and developing urban residence. Although he was paid well by doing these mural painting jobs for high ranking officer where as he still in poverty, so he blamed the drugs.
You won’t find Phang Sun Qiang’s name in the artist’s directories. He wasn’t trained, never enters into any competition nor related with any art association; but his paintings are collected and hang in the VIP’s room as decoration.
Phang (Phang Sun Qiang) is talented in realism painting. With his miracle and skillful technique, he could turn the zinc wall to become an amazing artwork and no wonder some important figures are his collectors.
From the first sight, I couldn’t believe he is the guy who squatting beside the stinky drain meticulously turned the twenty feet long zinc wall into a landscape painting. When I walked closer to him, I was stunned when I saw the tools that he used wasn’t any familiar painting materials but with his fingers and a lousy house painting brush that you even will think twice to pick it up.
“It’s like that lah! As long as you have interest, nothing is impossible.” He opened his husky voice along with his peculiar expression, but nevertheless he is a friendly person to talk to. He told me almost his everything included bad and sweet memories. He charged minimum two hundred for a painting, but for the mural in the Country Heights Kajang he earned ten thousand. A man called Dato’ Mark paid him seven thousand just to paint mural in his house. At the same time he also earned fifty thousand on all his commission artworks from the rich merchants, high rank officers and millionaires.
After few hours chit-chat with him, he shared with me more about his personal stuffs. “It’s useless to earn much; I had chunked all the money to use drugs. I couldn’t go back home to meet my wife and children, it’s shameful and guilty too. I blamed the drugs!”
But he hates the drugs the most while he loves the drugs the most.
Phang spent his youth in the jail. He was being ruthless and involved in all sorts of crimes included stealing and bank robbing. Today, he is 51 year-old, surviving with his own paintings. His mood swing drastically, he can finish a painting without a break when his mood is in tune; vise versa not even one can persuade him to pick up the brush.
Phang’s four season paintings are neither from his distinctive imagination nor his impression from other imageries that he saw from other places; indeed he never experiences any seasons in physically besides the tropical weather in our country. “I don’t know what genius is, but I think interest is the main key. I still remembered my interest was nurtured after watching my dad demonstrated to me how to draw a hen when I was a boy.”
When Phang was finished his standard five in Chinese school, his father wanted to transfer him to study in an English school. At that time he was over age to register the English school but he still succeed to enroll into form one by registered through his younger brother’s birth certificate which name Sah Tee.
Phang afraid that he had disappointed his father’s high expectation, he rather to find a job instead of finish the high school due to lack of interest in study. “Teacher teaches me to read, but I teach teacher to hunt wild boars.” (Pun phrase from: 先生教我读书，我教先生打山猪)
After quitting the school, he became one of the members of triode because of he thought this is the easiest way to make big money. When he realized the truth had turned his dream down then he drowned himself in drugs. Since that he never found his turning point to come back to normal life. “It’s too late, there’s no return”
He only started to paint when he was imprisoned and manage to make it as his survivor skill. He sends few hundred paintings to the warder to please him for sells. The warder paid him sixty ringgit per painting only. He knew his artworks worth more than that amount because of there’s an Australia Merchant acted as an art dealer came to Malaysia to buy his artworks then sold his artworks in Australia.
This Australia benefactor even went through a middle man to approach him again and wished to offer him to travel to the world, in return Phang must paint each country’s sceneries to him.
“Unfortunately I miss this glorious opportunity because of I was sent to Pulau Jerejak, Pulau Pinang just after bailed from jail.” His voice resonant…
Pha Tee from NZ Phang
一个耳闻而没有肌肤接触过得二伯。我爸说过，他写字很整齐，很漂亮，画画很美，在兄弟姐妹之间，他最聪明。 Second uncle whom I never touch but only through the verbal narrative from my dad: Among the brothers and sisters, he is the brightest. He not only inherit tidy and beautiful handwriting but also talented in drawing and painting.
对我来说他是一个走错路的聪明人，身为家族的一员，只觉得可惜，为什么他会贩毒？为生活？还是。。。For me, he is just a smart guy who had mistaken the wrong path in his life. As part of this family member, I felt sorry to him and wondering why he used drug. Isn’t for life or….?
墙上的画是爸爸告诉我，对于他是囚犯，我没意见，但是墙上的画，让我引以为傲。因为对我来说，贩毒每个人都可以，在于他要还是不要，是人性的选择。但是那幅墙画，不是你要就能完成，完成它是意志力的表现，天赋的表现，加上他是用手指和布来画。Through my dad’s words of mouth, just I knew about my second uncle is the chic and tongue Pudu Jail mural painter. I have no offensive to him as a prisoner yet I’m taking the pride of the mural. To me, every people have a chance to choose either to be or not to be a drug user, it shows the human truly instinctive nature. But not to this mural, it is not just a matter of desire but must compliment with a strong willpower and great talent; plus he painted with only his fingers and rags.
我爸曾经告诉过我，以前他和二伯一起住过，当时他看见二伯在房间，用手指对着墙壁画画，我爸还问二伯，你在那干嘛？ 结果，他的指纹就印满了那副墙壁。My dad used to live together with my second uncle and witnessed him painted on the wall in his room with his own fingers. At that time my dad still naïvely to ask him: “What are you doing?” and the result was the wall ended up with full of my second uncle’s finger print.
最后一次见，也算是第一次见的他，一只脚因健康问题割断了，而且脸上还有发炎的伤口。当时我才四岁多五岁，看见妈妈买食物给他，我也不知道为什么，当时他的穿着就像乞丐，但是有一种感觉告诉我，他是我的亲人。The first time and also is the last time I met him, he doesn’t looks good. He has to lose one leg and has a swollen face due to heath problem. I think I probably only four to five year old and I still remembered my mom brought him food. It is a strange feeling, although he wore like a beggar but intuitively told me that he is my relative.
每一次经过那副墙，我都会告诉我身边的朋友，那幅墙画我二伯画的和告诉是怎样画的，他们的回应通常是，那幅墙不是囚犯画的吗？我都回答，嗯，他是。Every time I passed by the mural, I will announce to my accompanies the facts of my uncle is the painter and the unique way how he painted the wall. The feed back always is: “aren’t the wall is painted by the prisoners?” and every time I will affirm to them: “Yes! He was.”
破坏前，那幅墙是历史；破坏后，它是历史，也是传说。因为那幅墙不在了。Before the demolition, the mural is a history; so do as after the demolition but also become a legend, because of the wall wasn’t there anymore.
时间的累积，我看见墙的感觉是越来越伤心，因为没有人保护及保养，它一直被破坏。从98年的运动会，在边框上白漆，就已经破坏原本的美，加上近这几年有无名人在上喷Graffiti。Time passes and it become really painful because of there is no cares and restoration vice versa it was being abused all along the time. Since 1998 Commonwealth Game, City Hall had painted the divider of the wall into white; numerous of white frames along the wall had ruined the originality and spoiled the visual aesthetic, even the anonymous did the graffiti on it in recently.
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Photo by NZ |
如果能保留，保养是最重要，因为这是历史遗迹。If we decided to keep it, restoration is the priority because of this is a heritage.
Dialogue vis-à-vis at below is me: K, NZ Phang: NZ ( NZ currently is the president of student body organization)
K: I’m wondering and just an assuming that your uncle must be inspired you a lot, is he influence your study?
NZ: Nop, nothing related with my uncle at all. Eventually I wanted to be a F1 racer but I didn’t get my family’s support. My dad did some product re-invention, they looks cool and practical so that’s why I’m in industrial design.
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| Note (sources from Facebook): This draft table provided thousand of possibilities to NZ’s college mates who are struggling to buy IKEA’s study table. NZ’s dad modified a drafting table to make sure he always in the right body position while he is doing all his best assignment. All we need is just an old whiteboard x1, stool x 1, and old desk x1 along with lots of cute magnet bars to hold the drawing paper. |
NZ: As I said if we decided to keep it, restoration is the priority because of this is a heritage. But how, I really don’t know and I have no idea who should take care of it. I definitely won’t stand out to do demonstration although it is painful for us (me and my family members) to bear the demolition on Pudu Jail because of we only can get know and remember my second uncle through this wall. I do aware that nights before demolition (Pudu Jail) have gather crowds of people who have sentimental value on it; this old land mark really meant something to all of us and told us different stories.
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Note: photographed and note by NZ: Pudu Jail the wall,i found my memory on it |
NZ: When I was child, my dad never said a word of preserving or documenting the present of the wall, sometime he drove us passing by the mural quietly and started to tell us the story about my uncle. I think this is the way my family kept these memories and feeling in deep. This is new to me; I will keep your advice and think about it.
Photographer, Tan Chee Hon had started his documentary project of Pudu Jail wall painting before it was demolished by developed from UDA early this year. The series was taken from year 2000 to 2010. He kindly let us has a first peep on selected photos from “In Memories Of Pudu Jail Painting ".
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Title: #1,2000 |
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Title: #6,2007 |
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Title: #10,2010 |
NZ: Something that I never thought about it. Can you be more specific?
K: Let’s say heritage; in everyday we can’t avoid from losing what we inherited from tangible to intangible heritage. For an example tangible as a building and intangible as our lifestyle or the air we are inhale now. The wall is a heritage for you from your uncle; there must be a certain value on the wall that normal people like me never can imagine.
As a designer and you being through the pain of lost, would you be more sensitive to the surrounding that probably significant to somebody else, so that you will make a plan of design that will avoid and reduce the pain of lost, even a design that have the thoughts of carrying the value from the past to the future?
NZ: I would like to move on my life and prefer to choose to not looking back too much. Probably I can keep this in my mind and let it evolve inside me because it’s true that there’s certain value that we should carry on.
After all, I’m very thankful to NZ’s effort to approach Diana Phang Lai Peng, daughter of Pha Tee and let us have a glimpse to this respective family who have went through so much where we can’t imagine.
Diana Phang who prefer stay low profile generously giving her true senses into words and posted on facebook as the response to this informal interview.
Monday, February 22, 2010
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