Although Malaysia is plagued by religious reactionaries (just like my own country) — who, if they had their way, would ban such wonderful things as tomboys and horror movies — the capital city, Kuala Lumpur, is home to a strong and vibrant secular culture, as shown by the lively street art I saw during my wanderings.
According to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, graffiti is an "alien culture [that] will negate all the efforts of beautifying our cities and towns" (ref). But for me at least, KL's street art was a bright spot in a city more sorely in need of litter cleanup and sidewalk repair than graffiti removal.
BTW, the stencil piece above refers to the Defence Services Asia exhibition, one of the world's top military supermarkets, held in Kuala Lumpur every two years.
Finally, let me leave you with this news story about KL street art that I found on YouTube:
7 comments:
Nice to look at, but NIMBY, please.
Welcome home, Dave!
Wow, what imaginative and attractive art. I love how colorful and fun some of the graffiti is.
Hi duriandave --
The graffiti you photographed are interesting -- and much more attractive than the vast majority of graffiti I saw on my recent German visit which seemed like blots on German urbanscapes that would have been much better without them.
Back to Malaysian graffiti: did you see and photograph the one of Yasmin Ahmad that appeared as a tribute to her shortly after her untimely passing? If so, please share!
-- Thanks, Dennis! It's good to be back. BTW, although I definitely wouldn't want graffiti on the side of my house or apartment building, I do enjoy seeing it (when it's well done or interesting) in public spaces.
-- sbk, I especially liked the six-limbed, furry robot. And its location -- on the side of a shack on the edge of a parking lot -- made it even more delightful.
-- YTSL, I do agree that graffiti can be an eyesore when placed indiscriminately. When I was in Ljubljana, Slovenia, a few years ago I was dismayed to see so many of the city's gorgeous Art Nouveau buildings marred by tagging.
Regarding the graffiti of Yasmin Ahmad, I'm afraid I missed that. If I knew about it, I definitely would have sought it out.
Graffiti is a vibrant art form--when "curated" as photographs in a blog/book/magazine--context is everything when if comes to graffiti.
It is often accompanied by gang signs and other anti-artistic tagging which can be one of the many things can add to the stress of living in a city, which is a problem.
Although I will confess that these are really good, from the juvenile but funny "smoke weed" to the anti-DSA.
"Military supermarket" has such an odd sound, although that is a term the buyers, sellers and organizers use. --Do you need anything at the supermarket? --Sure, pick up a couple of eggplants, some Roma tomatoes, a half dozen poison gas canisters and a couple of cluster bomb units--thanks for asking.
-- Hi Ed! Yeah, I loved the "smoke weed" graffiti. It becomes more than just Stoner 420 in the context of a country which has a mandatory death sentence for trafficking. (I'm not sure how harsh the punishment is for possession of small amounts.)
oooh that graffiti of the "eyeless" screaming boy is kinda creepy. imagine coming up on that one in the middle of the night, with only the moon illuminating that one.
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