JANUARY 14

📍 NATIONAL ART GALLERY & NATIONAL MUSEUM

Today we visited the museum and art gallery. I was still feeling ill from yesterday, however, I decided to persist as I really wanted to see the exhibits, and turns out it was definitely worth the pain!

The National Art Gallery had the most gorgeous and captivating pieces of work. The attention to detail was incredible. I was fascinated by the abstract sculptures, which could be used as inspiration for our own project.

Along with this, I liked the artwork that used ‘found items’ of tin cans, but inside the cans were pictures of people. This was by Jeffrey Lim, in 1978, in Kuala Lumpur. This idea of upcycling could be integrated in our projects.

I was also intrigued by the juxtaposition between the artwork by Malaysian artists and the colonial works of the British.

These works really stood out to me as well.

We then headed off to the National Museum. The exterior was so unique, with a huge mural at the front, and arched rooves.

Within the museum, I was intrigued by the weapons used, such as Kujang Javelin, which was used for protection against black magic.

I liked the intricate detail of the kitchen supplies, that Western nations would consider as ‘fine china’ which Sei Hon explained doesn't really make sense - why would you call a plate the name of a country?

I also liked the various outfits of different nationalities within Malaysia, the throne they had on display, and the items people used to barter with.

I thought it was nice there was a focus on Malaysian history, especially as Australian schools tend to focus only on East Asian history.