On Malaysian Artwork
On last Tuesday's class, we were asked two questions: What event is so significant that Malaysian artists should feature it in their artwork? Is it their responsibility to create a "Malaysian artwork"?
This begs the question, what
is a "Malaysian artwork" anyway? Is there a group of old men hidden
somewhere within our government who meet everyday and try to determine what constitutes Malaysian artwork?
If yes, then what are the rules and requirements? And most importantly, are the
opinions of this bunch of old men valid? Should we care about what they think?
Well, in my opinion, no, we
shouldn't care about what they think, because by definition, MALAYSIAN artwork
should be decided by all Malaysian, which is why we we call it Malaysian
artwork and not government-approved artwork. But personally, my own definition of Malaysian artwork is simply any art form that is related to Malaysia.
If there is one day when a
Malaysian artist decides to draw the star-spangled banner and called it
Malaysian art, the government should not have the authority to say "no,
it's not". Instead the people should be allowed to decide for themselves
and the government will have to respect the people's opinion even if they don't
like it, not the other way around.
Some may argued that if there
are no regulation from the government, then one things leads to another and
soon we will be flooded with obscenities. So, how can any decent people
willingly let that happen? To that, I would say art should
be a reflection of our reality. Covering the obscenity is the equivalent of
sticking our head into the ground and telling ourselves fairy tales about how
"all is well", how are we ever going to solve any problems with that
attitude?
However, I cannot emphasize enough the immense burdens that comes with giving the decision power to the people. A
democracy is only as good as the people are rational and people aren't always
rational, but that's a discussion best reserved for another topic.
Back to our topic, we
established that Malaysian artwork can be anything as long as Malaysians agree
with it. So, what event is so significant that it should be featured in by
artist in their artwork? The event of my choice would
be the day when our education system could successfully instill in students the
willingness to ask tough question instead of being a yes man.
Malaysia being the high power
distance country that it is, we have developed a culture where questioning the
action of our leaders could be considered offensive. In my opinion, this simply
cannot be. For any organization to function
effectively, there must be check and
balance, which involves critically questioning the leaders action. If any one
party are allowed to run unchecked, there will be hell to pay.
I still remember an article
written by Tun Mahathir on the issues of criticizing leaders Here is the link, it is quite an interesting read.. He said that if the people are afraid to criticize or question their leaders, their leader will not be able to see their own mistake. You see, constructive criticism allowed the government to be critical of
itself, and I believe that only under such circumstance will our nation be able to prosper. So, think of the implications
these students can have on our country's future, the good that they can do. I
think this event definitely warrants to be featured in future's Malaysian artist's artwork.
Finally, it is the local
artist's responsibility to create a "Malaysian artwork"? My answer to that question is yes, because if we are not going to do it, who else?
So what do you think? I like to know what everyone's else opinion is.
Sorry for the super late reply but this post of yours really made me think.
ReplyDeleteI actually don't think Malaysians should decide what is Malaysian art or even what is art. The "people" you speak of -- if you are referring to the general, majority populace -- has a tendency to be conservative and uneducated about art matters so they are poor judges of whether something can be construed as art or not, much less Malaysian art.
For me, in the end, it all boils down to the artist. If an artist is a Malaysian and s/he creates any kind of artwork about any theme or issue or idea at all, then it can be considered Malaysian art. In short, anything created by a Malaysian.
But what about Malaysians who were born here but then migrated elsewhere? Or those who were born to Malaysian parents overseas? Then it gets more complicated because we also have to think about constitutes the term "Malaysian" and whether we want to go for the passport-carrying definition or something more ephemeral and emotion-based.
In those cases, I think, why not let the artist decide if they identify as Malaysian or not? If they do, then sure their work can be considered Malaysian art. If they don't, then why are we so quick to claim them as Malaysian and their work as Malaysian art?
What about a Mat Salleh who has migrated to Malaysia and she wants to make artwork about our country? Should her work be considered Malaysian art? Again, why not?
In the end, for me it all boils down to one idea: why make the sphere of what constitutes Malaysian art small and restrictive? Why not make it as inclusive and as large and expansive as possible? We have nothing to lose by broadening the definitions of Malaysian art. Nothing at all.
By the way, I almost forgot: what event should be immortalized in Malaysian art? Definitely Bersih rallies because so far, so few artists have really created huge canvases of these historic rallies and to me, they are a part of our history that should never be hidden or forgotten by future generations.
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