heritage our keep

ARTWORK STATEMENT

Title                : Heritage our keep

Statement       : Research for heritage that we were slowly left behind

Size                  : 5 feet x 4 feet

Medium           : mix media on canvas

Why must we left things that we have to reach the something which not sure we get? This is the issue that happened to us but we never accept it. We left altitude Malay girl which rich with kindness, polite, sweet and beautiful not only in deep but also at outside. Why must girl now wear jeans and t-shirt while we have songket and batik which is very nice and suitable for us as Malay girl. Who say that these dresses are left? Which wear songket and batik cloth, the girl will look very beautiful and elegant. Build a bungalow and castle will up our level name, so, are the traditional wooden house will decrease your name’s level? We now also were replacing mengkuang and pandan mats with carpet which is expensive and soft even our ancestors before was used it a long time and when people from others country produce carpet, we was forget the mengkuang and pandan mats which our ancestor left to us. Are its fair? What else we have to give to the next generation as heritage if we not keep it???

All of this is the question in produced this painting title “Heritage our Keep”.  This painting to show us about the traditional and our heritage beside the altitude of Malay Girl. In this painting, we can see a Malay girl wears Kebaya Songket with Batik cloth and Scaft. Thi Malay girls sit in side the traditional wooden house on mengkuang mats and at the house wall have embroidery tudung saji. My theme is to show about our cultural heritage and hope the young generation will know, accept and keep it.

PROGRESS

Here are some important scope in my painting which is Malay girl, traditional house, batik, songket, embroidery and mengkuang mats.

Mary Cassatt painting is about a woman, so I chose Malay girl as domain image in my painting. I choose to making a Malay girl which famous with her beauty, sweet, polite and kindness. It is to show that girl in modern era don’t have that altitude anymore. This Malay girl I was used make up tool to make her face includes face powder, lipstick and others. I also use eyelash to show the beauty of Malay girl. I used make up tool to show that before this, Malay girls don’t need make up because they have natural beauty.

Mary Cassatt paints a woman in a park. For me, I will choose a Malay girl sit in a wooden house near a window. Wooden house is a traditional house which many people don’t like built it. So, I used it as to show the unique, beautiful, and interesting of wooden house with carving verandah.  I produced this wooden house with dark chocolate colors with lighting at the center to focus on ‘tudung saji’ and the Malay girl. At the window, I used same stroke with my masterpiece before, a blue-green with impressionist stroke. Blue green colors will make it calmer. I was make some collage especially at verandah used wood filler to make it look liked 3D. I sed it to show the reality ang the beauty of the woodcarving.

Mary Cassatt painting is about a women wear dress and skirt with hat, so for my Malay girl, I choose this Malay girl wears dark violet Batik cloth and green and brown batik as her scarf. This batik is an icon of traditional handmade from Malaysia which not famous anymore as a dress liked before. On the batik scarf, I also was used collage technique used batik cloth, it also wants to make it look real and to show about the beauty of batik.

This Malay girl also wears blue kebaya songket. It also is a traditional handmade. If we can see, songket only will use in important ceremony, not as usual dress.

At the wall in my painting, we can see red “tudung saji” which decorate with simple embroidery design. It is as icon of Malay craft where embroidery is a Malay craft which is not famous and not been used anymore. So, I used it as to remember to audience to not leave what we have before (embroidery). I also was used wood filler as collage technique in making this embroidery design.

I also was used light yellow mengkuang mat as a place to the Malay Girl sit. Mengkuang mats is a traditional craft, but is not famous to us now because was replace with carpet. It was make we leave what we have before. Some wood filler at the mengkuang mats to show the stroke the mats. It also as an attraction to audience about the mengkuang mats.

So, as overall, my painting is to show that we need what we was missing in cool colour. We need Malay Girl which have god altitude, batik and songket as dress, embroidery and mengkuang mats, and also traditional house which unique and beautiful. Why we must leave it for reach modern era? I also used collage technique used eyelash, wood filler, batik cloth and others to make it more interesting and attracted.