Express your love for city in ‘Kuching for Me’ contest
KUCHING: Look around you. Pay attention to details. See beyond what you’re seeing.
All it may take is a little bit of effort to discover what makes the culture of Kuching and why this city is one of a kind.
Many people particularly Kuchingites love the Cat City but a relatively small number of them have expressed their love for the city through art works.
Local artist David Chew feels that it is imperative for city dwellers here to ponder the culture and history of this city given that ‘Kuching is a city with culture and content’.
“Kuching is a city with a soul and rich in culture. It’s not just buildings and roads or the concrete environment. For instance, many people may have taken laksa on a regular basis, but not many of them look into when and how laksa was created.
“There are aspects that remain invisible or overlooked. Kuching is a city rich in content which we all need to explore,” he told an interview at the Saradise Gallery, Titanium Tower here yesterday.
Chew, who presently leads the Sarawak Artists Society, is one of the three panel of judges for the ‘Kuching For Me’ contest (running from March 6 to May 7) organised by Saradise Sdn Bhd.
The contest was an avenue for the community to dig deeper into what the city has to offer.
“’Kuching For Me’ is about you as a person living in this city, your awareness of this city. Have you noticed the little details in this city,” he asked?
He said the contest could induce people to figure out such as why the road adjacent to the India Street right in the city centre curved like it did. He believed that the contest would also encourage people to look in-depth at some issues in the city besides bringing them to pay higher attention to the city they’d been living in.
“Be expressive. There are values and culture in this city, make them visible and express it out so that more people are aware of what Kuching is. We want people to start to realise the value of this city.”
According to him, most people may have thought of art as just for decorations. He begged to differ by asking one to imagine what the world would be like without art.
He pointed out that there would be no architectural design or unique glasses or chairs without art.
His observation led him to believe that a lack of appreciation was the key factor why not many people showed keen interest in art and culture.
“If a person appreciates more, they appreciate art. We have the capacity to appreciate, just that we need to recall it. Art and culture are very important.”
Chew said children in eastern part of the world ought to be encouraged to express themselves rather than being heavily guided and suppressed.
He noted that most five-yearolds could express themselves but more often than not they had been refrained to do this and that because of judgemental parents or adults. The more children were told what they had to do, the scarier they became of expressing themselves, he stressed.
He recollected an occasion in which a child coloured the sea in red but was told it was not right.
“Sea water is not necessarily blue. It’s rather a reflection of the sky and environment. So the next time children paint the sea red or purple, ask them why and do not judge with your limited knowledge.”
“Creativity is all about seeing things beyond. A lot of awareness process needs to be done.
“Hopefully starting from the community and the contests by Saradise and then eventually the government comes in.”
For individuals with no art background, Chew said technical requirements would not be all as far as the contest was concerned.
“It is about the important feelings we ( panel of judges) can get. You must be able to convey through your art pieces. You have to engage us and hit the feelings of judges.
“Show us how much you love this city. Different people have different ways of showing their love. A work can be technically perfect but may lack soul.”
Saradise Sdn Bhd also released its judging framework comprising 50 per cent for content, 30 per cent for concept and 10 per cent for originality.
The 50 per cent for content comes with a breakdown - structure or plot and pacing (10%), style or tone (10%), visual elements (10%) and emotion provoking (20%).
Saradise Sdn Bhd corporate marketing communications manager Si Kok Leng said the contest is open to residents and visitors to the city who are aged 15 and above to express their dream and love for Kuching.
As of yesterday, she said more than 30 entries had been received while she looked forward to more.
She disclosed that the corporation might adopt selected winning entries as the ecology items for the park at Saradise Kuching in BDC here.