The Malayan Tiger Family sculptures by Alice Chang, that includes a pair of father or mother tigers taking care of their cub, had been meant to focus on the significance of saving the Malayan tiger.
But the message appears to have fallen on deaf ears with repeated harm attributable to guests to the tiger household set up at Kwai Chai Hong in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown. The set up was unveiled on Jan 13.
On three separate events because the launch, CCTV footage captured people trying to climb on the sculptures and sit on them in order to “experience” the tigers. Those irresponsible actions prompted cracks, chips and harm to the tiger sculptures, that are comprised of recycled damaged tiles, plaster, metallic mesh and metallic body.
Chang says she was “more shocked than angry” on the latest incident final weekend when she first came upon.
“I used to be asking how did this occur and who would do such a factor?” says Chang.
But with the repeated “accidents” to the tigers, Chang reveals she felt a mix of feelings – unhappy, disillusioned, indignant after which curious – as to why would individuals do that.
“The staff from Kwai Chai Hong and I shortly met as much as tackle this and I’m glad all of us determined to show this lesson to coach the public as a substitute.”
The tigers had been bandaged to point out the implications of the public’s irresponsible act. Also, a guard was stationed close by to discourage future incidents, and a “pure barricade” made up of rocks, stones, fallen tree trunks, and branches was added to the sculpture’s perimeter lately. Additional signage had additionally been positioned on the set up web site.
“With this injury, we realised that it is not a matter of just fixing the problem and moving on. It is a lack of education and exposure to public art.
“Letting people see an “injured” tiger sculpture with a bandage will set off a stronger response. It is not pristine or excellent wanting now due to irresponsible human actions.
“Visuals like this are more impactful. This, I hope, will get people to think before they act around art pieces,” presents Chang.
“The task was upon us to convert this negative experience to something impactful – educating people how to respect public art. In fact, we chose to call this an ‘injury’ in order to emphasise how human’s irresponsible actions can deeply impact a non-living piece of art, let alone our Malayan tigers,” says Zeen Chang, managing accomplice of Bai Chuan Management.
All the proceeds from the sale of the Malayan Tiger Family sculptures will probably be donated to WWF-Malaysia’s tiger conservation efforts.
The Live Wild And Prosper art installation is open to the public till Feb 20, from 9am to 10pm each day. Free admission.
Respect for public artwork continues to be a broader challenge in Malaysia, involving higher training and consciousness in direction of artwork.
In August 2019, the Bakat Muda Sezaman (Young Contemporaries) exhibition on the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur made the wrong headlines when it noticed a number of artworks from native artists similar to Mesita Jee Mei-Jane, Samsudin Wahab, Ho Mei Kei, Haffendi Anuar and Muhamad Nizar Sulaiman broken by guests to the gallery.
At that National Art Gallery exhibition, members of the public stepped on Mesita’s set up work and broke the mirror, individuals sat on Haffendi’s sculptures, Muhamad’s set up that includes a cluster of stand followers had been moved about to suit the right Instagram shot and Samsudin’s rustic set up noticed individuals attempting to climb the ladder featured in the award-winning piece.
