Young artists capture Malaysia’s rich intangible heritage during pandemic

The Usaha Tegas Group successfully hosted the Usaha Tegas Heritage Art Competition 2021 despite the challenges involved in organising an art competition amidst a pandemic.

Adapting to the new digital norm, 22 winners of this year’s competition were honoured via a virtual awards ceremony.

Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd (UTSB) chief operating officer Lim Ghee Keong together with UTSB directors Maureen Toh and Sivam Kandavanam presented prize money worth a total of RM63,500 to all the winners in different art categories.

Maureen Toh said the past two years had been tough for everyone and the Malaysian arts scene was not spared.

“The pandemic is hard, but we remain committed to ensuring that we do our part to provide the young artists with an avenue to express their creativity.

“With the enthusiastic, pro-active efforts of our team including a strong digital push, coupled with the exceptional interest shown by our participants, we were able to overcome the challenges and continue to honour Malaysia’s colourful and diverse heritage,” she said.

Held annually, the Usaha Tegas Heritage Art Competition is organised to inspire and encourage budding artists to showcase their unique talent while invoking a sense of pride and love for the nation’s rich heritage in the hearts of Malaysian youth.

The competition, now in its 21st year since inception, saw 251 submissions of artworks from 26 higher learning institutions.

Competition participants were given the task of depicting Malaysia’s intangible cultural heritage premised on the competition’s overarching theme of ‘Malaysian Heritage’.

The competition’s distinguished panel of judges included award-winning printmaking maestro Juhari Said as head judge, award-winning multi-disciplinary artist Bibi Chew, heritage building conservationist Ar. Parama Nathan and National Art Gallery senior art curator Syahrul Niza.

Syahrul is a committee member of the prestigious Bakat Muda Sezaman, a member of the Oita Asian Sculpture Exhibition Committee (Malaysia) as well as a committee member of the Kuala Lumpur Biennale.

Ng Sin Koon of ATEC Academy scored a double win when she emerged victorious in the Mixed Media category and 3rd place in Charcoal/Ink/Pencil category.

The mixed media artwork entitled “So Delicious!” utilizes coloured pencil and soft pastel to capture the image of a young girl mesmerized by homemade delicacies at a local market.

Her ATEC Academy mate Lim Shu Kee scored the second spot while Muhammad Fahmi Hisham of Universiti Malaysia Sabah was the recipient of the third prize. Two consolation prizes were given away for this category.

Wong Kin Tong of the Malaysian Institute of Art bagged the top prize in the Charcoal/Ink/Pencil category with his Peranakan clay figurines. There were two 2nd place prizes awarded which went to Ho Wen Hong of The One Academy Penang and Yong Hui Lin of the Malaysian Institute of Art. The category also awarded two 3rd place prizes to Ng Sin Koon and Ooi Jia Hao, both of ATEC Academy.

In the Oil/Acrylic category, the first prize winner was Tan Peng Hong of Dasein Academy of Art, while Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s Mohd Relmie bin Jimmy and Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Sun Jin Xin won the second and third prizes respectively.  Two contestants were awarded with consolation prizes for this category.

Ho Wen Hong of The One Academy Penang topped the Watercolour category. His artwork entitled “Preserved” utilizes watercolour to amplify lightness and luminosity, forming a vacuum seal in the shape of Penang Island that encases an iconic symbol of Peranakan Chinese culture, the kasut manek. The artist chooses to only feature the right shoe to hint that preserving Penang’s heritage is only ‘right’. 

While Tan Hui Leng of Alfa International College was awarded the second prize. There were no third prize winners for this category, which saw two consolation prize winners.

The Print Making category did not produce any first prize winners. The second and third prizes went to Ahmad Afiq Md Sebari of Universiti Teknologi MARA and Leow Li En of Dasein Academy of Art. The category also featured one consolation prize.