Seventeen years in Malaysia, and the intricate sub-cultures that overlap each other
still overwhelms me with its rich diversity of ethnicities and habits. Various forms of
art in Malaysia (e.g Wayang Kulit, Aboriginal wood carving, Batik, Chinese ink
paintings) have deep threads of history embedded in them, and the process and
expressions involved in their creation is undeniably awe-inspiring. Five years ago, I
had the honour to showcase my sculpture interpretations of unity as an artist, and
that experience fuelled a desire to weave more meaningful stories into bite-sized
and digestible visual representations. Hence, it is no wonder that I harbour a certain
intimacy towards visual art.
Separately, observing club activities in school led me to realize that enriching
cultural identities through education can, in fact, greatly impact and improve quality
of living. Soon, following the completion of Dhammaghiri orphanage in
MaeHongSon Thailand, I planned and taught elementary English classes and shared
my visual perspectives with the children. A small Christmas Concert was also held
together with famed jazz singer Jasmine Chen for the Karèn and Mong Hilltribes,
and our performance moved the children to delve more into self-discovery, while
even inspiring some youths to pursue music. This particular project added a vibrant
splash of culture to the monk community and the hill tribes' village elders, who had
never encountered nor understood the idea and cultural roots of Christmas. It also
pushed me to acquire the Gold Medal of Achievement, the highest award available
in the Royal Rangers program.
After watching the expansion of design integrated in the Dignity for Children
Foundation, I recognized how aptly visual communications spurred rapid growth in
its purpose to redeem the lives of children. The Hardys' conception of Green School
in Bali expanded my horizons to realize the importance of innovative education and
design. These Pro Bono examples of design resonate with my belief that education
should be accessible to all to ensure growth in cultural maturity worldwide. Thus,
they sparked a strong interest to polish myself in visual communications in hopes
to solve the layers of underlying problems that hinder the reach of education to
different regions, as a contribution to the benefit of the underprivileged.
Inspired by the insightful works by Yasmin Ahmad and Jo Kukathas regarding
social cohesion along with 3nityDesign's projects of social innovation, I began to
experiment, and found my passion in scriptwriting, voice acting and performing for
events in and out of school. Digesting these skills and developing different
characters onstage whether by orations or visual presentations allowed growth in
the muscle of creativity, which really improved my flow of thought while
conceptualizing ideas. Keen to give back and to spread cultural awareness in
school, I took a chance last year as the Art club president to collaborate with
different clubs and, with aid, put together an exhibition of Western and Chinese art
in a fresh form, featuring traditional styles of ink painting interweaving with
Malaysian culture.
I'd say that we as humans subconsciously depend on the need of emotion and
communion to cling towards a sense of belonging. This, in turn, births a need for
expression that I hope can be universally fulfilled through the platforms of visual
art. In the end, my points boil down to how visual communications can effectively
impact the way of living. I hope that my generation can muster the courage to break
out of the mold of being content with accumulating wealth, and I dream of my
generation and I emulating global social movements through design and innovation,
while allowing a local insemination of cultural awareness. Hence, I believe that we
should educate ourselves to appreciate the mellow tones of world culture, starting
from our own dear multiracial country.
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