Fostering Ties through Arts

From 1 to 30 June, Australian art lovers, collectors and the public had the privilege of personally getting acquainted with Malaysia arts at a special exhibition titled ‘Penang Art Society @ Melbourne’ that took place at the astonishing gallery at SpACE@Collins, Collins St, Melbourne, Victoria. Organised by Penang Art Society (PAS) Malaysia and curated by the society’s President, Ch’ng Huck Theng emphasized that this first of its kind exhibition is a cross cultural exchange event to encourage cultural immersion, to promote international understanding and goodwill between Malaysia and Australia. The PAS@Melbourne marked an important milestone for the Society as it is the first ever art exhibition down under.

The exhibition was officiated by the Consul General of Malaysia to Australia in Melbourne, Dato Dr Mohammad Rameez Yahaya. ‘‘PAS has provided an important platform to nourishing and promoting the Malaysian art and culture scene. As we all know that people nowadays are emphasizing more towards the quality of life, arts and culture play important roles in enabling people from different background and different races to understand each other hence making this a better and peaceful planet to live in. The Malaysian government is proud of PAS’s effort in bringing Malaysia arts and culture to Australia and I would like to congratulate its President, Mr Ch’ng Huck Theng for taking this initiative to make possible this exhibition,’’ said Dato Dr Rameez in his speech. He further added that this is an important step to not only provide an exposure for the Malaysian artists but more important sharing and bridging the bond between two great countries.

‘PAS@Melbourne’ featured a collection of artworks from 20 renowned Malaysian artists, whose works have been exhibited at various international biennales and art shows, ranging from the Malaysian modern to contemporary art. President Ch’ng said in his statement, ‘‘having celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2013, the PAS is the oldest registered art society in Malaysia with over 500 members and still growing. Established in the 1950’s, it was set up with the objective of consolidating various artworks from the region including paintings, photography, Chinese calligraphy, poetry, music, dance performances, bonsai, feng shui and others, to preserve and further promote these cultures. ’’

Among the VIPs that attended this colourful event were Turkish Consulate General, Ersel Ozdemir, Felix Wong Director from Echo3 Media, Colin Abbot from AMBC, Ita Puspitasari Consulate for Social Cultural Affairs Indonesia and Councillor Ken Ong.