Sepet

Sepet! It's an interracial relationship movie which is directed by Yasmin Ahmad. The first movie that I watched about the relationship between a Malay and Chinese. The actor and actress act well in this movie. Actually, I feel culturally connected because the shooting place is in Ipoh, which is my hometown. In this case, it makes me have the sense of continuity in watching this film. Also, it involves dialect of Malaysia which is Hokkien to strengthen the Malaysia culture. In short, I think it's a nice film that I would recommend to others. Thanks Ms for introducing to us.

History of Malaysian Cinema

Today I learnt the traditional art forms in Nusantara before cinema. Actually at first, I have no idea about what is mean by Nusantara. Then, I go and search it out and it means Malay World. Among the four traditional art forms, I'm more interested in Wayang Kulit. As a Malaysian, I think it's a pity that if you haven go and watch any Wayang Kulit show. Call back to the day that I attended Wayang Kulit show in Publika Black Box, I had new experience. I'm impressed by the Tok Dalang's skill. I know it's difficult to be the narrator and the shadow puppet player at the same time, because I have difficulty to do so. Although I did not really understand the Malay slang of the Tok Dalang, however, I admired the skill and the member that played the musical instrument. It was a great experience.

 

Just about May13 (1970) by Redza Piyadasa

This is an artwork produced by Redza Piyadasa. He is an opinionated and patriotic artist. This artwork looks creepy and scary at first, however, I calm down after look carefully on this artwork.

Firstly, it's weird that a coffin is standing upright as shown in the picture. Besides that, there is white curtain surrounds it. For me, I think the artist want to give the viewer some scary feeling about the production of this artwork. Thus, there is a separated Malaysia flag surrounds the coffin. This obviously shows the nation break in Malaysia. 

According to the information, this artwork is produced after the incident May 13. Hence, I can relate something about this artwork. For example, actually May 13 can consider as a moment of Malaysia death as the artwork is portrayed in coffin shape. Coffin signifies death. The fragmented flag show the divided nation, we are not a whole nation in the incident. There is a mirror below the coffin. Maybe the artist wants to reflect million of coffin in this artwork. Perhaps he wants to show that many people are dead in this incident. 

Then, there is white cloth at both side of the coffin. In my opinion, the white cloth signifies surrender. In this incident, both races stop fighting and bring peace to the nation.

Guest Speaker - Tan Zi Hao

Well, I will just talk something that I found interesting about him. Actually, I not really interested in listening talk by artist. However, I still learn something from Tan Zi Hao from his talk.
For example, like the product that he made, "The Soil is Not Mine" is the most memorable thing in the talk. To be honest, the pack of soil attracted me because of the content which contained of sperm. When he introduced to us, I thought I heard wrongly at first, however, It's true! This actually proven my opinion about artist " Artists do something that I don't understand". This is solely opinion-based. Hence, I go on web to search on more information on the product. Here is the link that you guys can refer.

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The Soil is Not Mine

Besides that, I realise something that is worth to read in the booklet that he shown us. 

(Just sharing purpose)

Happy reading ^^

A Late Post : Field Trip to Bank Negara

Hello~ I have skipped so many entries because of other assignments. However, I will still try to share about what I knew and what I learned during the field trip to Bank Negara.

Everytime when I heard of field trip, the feeling of excitement comes out from my inner self. I love field trip, field trip is the moment when you can see and feel the exact thing. For example is the art gallery in Bank Negara. This was the first time that I made a visit to the art gallery. It's impressive although we were unable to go through the whole building.

So, let me share about the pre-talk by Abdul Muid Latif. Firstly, he surprised me because he was above my expectation. (Because in my imagination, he is an old guy.) He shared many useful art information in a fun way and I think the young people will like it. On that day, I managed to write down some of the artist name, just have a look and for my reference ^^.

1. Wong Hoy Cheong
2. Hasnul Jamal Saidon
3. Tan Jin Ho (Wau 2020)
- inspire by Wau Bulan
- specialise in 3D animation
4. Mabatir Buang (Milx)
- conceptual art
5. Mobammad Yazid (Zid)
- produce character for game
- conceptual artist for gozilla
6. Beatrice Tan (KiDchan)
- Strong usage in colour
7. Firdaus Herrow
- use a lot of projection

Lastly, I have seen Muid Latif's live Digital Art Show in this video. It's awesome! Guys, can have a look xD

Muid Latif Digital Art Show

Malaysian Art Work

In my opinion, Malaysia art is something abstract, which means that if we cannot feel it or understand it, then the piece of artwork is nothing to us. Malaysia art work is produced by local talented artist which is expert in using different form to convey certain message. In cultural perspective, we need to understand understand the cultural context before we can understand the particular art work. Also, as I am not really get into Malaysia culture context and news, art work is considered as something that I do not understand.

The significant event that I think should feature in Malaysia art work is some case that significantly affect our country. For example like May 13, National Day and so on. I think through the creative mindset of the artist, the art work that he or she produced will have certain impact on us. Bear in mind that I am not asking the artist to portray the negative side of Malaysia, but the positive side. I hope that Malaysian will remember the significant event that happened in Malaysia through the art work and work together as a whole to achieve the unity and peace.

 

Here comes another question, Is it the responsibility of Malaysia artist to create a Malaysian art work? In my opinion, I think that if the particular person insists to be an artist, then he or she will enjoy to create piece of art work instead of consider it as a responsibility. However, artist sure have the responsibility to create art work in order to maintain and make the Malaysia Culture better.

Thank you.

SOmething AbOut Malaysia !

May 13...is such a major tragedy that happened in our country. Actually, I asked my mother about this, but she said she is not sure about what happened on this incident. Until that day lecture, I felt so shocked about the truth of this incident. I'm not going to talk about the truth here, but I like the way that Dr Carmen presented it to us. I think that the best way to understand a situation is to have the sense of empathy, which means to put yourself into other people's shoes. Yes, Dr Carmen used this way to let us have a strong emotional attachment to the incident. I feel what they feel.

When I'm listening to the lecture, there's one sentence that forced me to think deeply.
 "Would you have what you have now if there is no migrant worker?"

If without migrant worker, UTAR Sungai Long New Campus will not be built, there are still many more impacts. To be honest, I always look down on the migrant worker, but start from now, I will appreciate what they did and respect them. We, young people, educated youngster demand a high salary and so call middle or high class job after graduate. If without them, the job cycle will be broke, no one is willing to do the hard work, then the job cycle will be imbalanced. This is all about my opinion.

If someone is willing to sacrifice their lives for country but some other do not, does it means that the ones who will die for their country loves their country more than the ones who are not? From my perspective, the love for country does not work that way. Everyone has different capabilities, for example the country needs soldiers, as a female, I will not sacrifice blindly for the country by joining the army because I cant even hold or stabilize the gun. On the other way, I will do what I am capable of, such as a nurse or a chef in the military.

Lastly, here is the edited version of our national anthem.

Ma Lay Si A
Multiracial and cultural
We live together
Peacefully with freedom
Walakam ni hao
Khabar baik semua
Wisdom in ruler
People are united

Another Country ~ Another Me

Hi, today finally has the mood to write about Another Country. This show has widen my knowledge about performing art. If I'm not mistaken, I think this was my second time to watch a professional performing art in a former theatre. To be honest, there was quite a number of scenes that  I not really understand. However, I got to know more during tutorial, special thanks to tutor and my friends who made a clear explanation about it. Through the show, I started to think of the relationship between Singapore and Malaysia. Last time, I thought that Singapore and Malaysian were totally different, but now, I think we are a big family that shared some similarities.

Recently, I watched a show which was held in Genting International Showroom. The show is named "Iluminate". This is a story that was play in the dark with LED light installed on the special suit of the actor and actress. The LED light follows the music's beats to flash to create different visual effect. This is my first time of watching such creative and interesting show. I don't know whether this is considered as performing art or not, perhaps someone can answer me xD.

For those who have no idea what is it, here is the promo clip of the show: Iluminate Promo Clip

Ticket

Free Gift: Sound React LED Glasses
(Whenever there is sound near the glasses, the LED will start blinking)

I enjoy this show and it innovates my creativity. Thank you.

Hi everyone, my name is Chong Joo Yee. This subject - Malaysian Media and Culture brought me some impacts during the first class. Last time, I’m not really thought about “Malaysian”, I just took it for granted. After this class, I started to know more about Malaysian’s culture and how others think of Malaysia. This is quite an interesting class in degree life. I hope that I can learn to express myself bravely throughout the class. **Special thanks to Dr Carmen – Interesting lecturer J

Now is the time to answer the question – Do You Identify Yourself as a Malaysian? Yes, I can proudly say that I’m a Malaysian. I believe that people actually can easily identify Malaysian through language used and culture.

I feel proud where I can speak multilingual include dialects.

I feel proud where I can live with different ethnic peacefully.

I feel proud where I can experience different ethnic’s culture and tradition.

So, why not to be a Malaysian? According to a survey by The Star Online, most of the people identified themselves as Malaysian but not a member of an ethnic group (The Star Online, 2015). This shows that unity exists in Malaysia and I would like to stay in this beautiful country.

Sadly to say that Malaysia’s politic system makes me feel disappointed. However, I don’t think this is a barrier that preventing me from loving Malaysia. No one is perfect and everything has both positive side and negative side. Why not just focus on the good side and try to change for the bad side. I believe that “change” is a key word to improve on the nation.

Does it matter? Yes, Malaysian nationality brings benefit to me in term of language proficiency and so on. When I love, then I care, being a Malaysian is surely a matter to me because I love Malaysia!

Thank you.

 Reference

 1. The Star Online. (2015, May 03).Most Malaysians identify with nationality first: Survey .

                           Retrieved from: http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/most-malaysians-identify-                              nationality-first-survey