BY EDWINNIE EINSTEIN UNJI & NUR ATIQAH QURATULAINI
KUCHING: A mural artist has captured the hearts of thousands of locals with his masterpieces telling stories through works of art.
He brings back memories from the distant past with his work giving all who gaze upon them a sense of nostalgia.
Leonard Siaw, 37, has been passionate about being an artist his whole life.
He has a penchant for creating murals, where he can express and tell others a thousand meanings to the story behind his art work.
Leonard’s latest mural effort can be seen right next to theTun Jugah Building in Padungan.
The mural is of a bespectacled man smiling but to some people, the unfinished project can be quite confusing without knowing the context and history behind it.
The mural is a collaboration between Kuching South City Council (MBKS), Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak and Leonard.
Speaking to New Sarawak Tribune, he explained that the mural was actually inspired by a local herbal tea owner not far from the lot where he is creating the mural, he calls ‘The Famous Liang Teh’.
“The idea for this mural is to paint the previous owner of the herbal tea shop that is right along this lot.
“I like to tell stories to the public through visual arts, so for this mural it is the same case, I like to tell people that the owner of the herbal tea shop was once here and kickstarted the herbal tea business,” he said.
Before creating any mural, Leonard said that he will go around and ask locals, conducting brief interviews and doing as much research as he can to accurately tell stories to others.
“For this mural that I am creating now, I did a brief interview with the family and asked one of the children of the late owner to pose as he was making tea.
“Then I take the late owner’s black and white photo and re-imagine his child as him”, he explained.
Leonard’s incredible creativity helped him sketch rough drafts of the mural with the help of ‘doodle grid’ that he saw while participating in an art festival in Australia in 2018.
He initially started creating the mural on April 1 but due to the uneven and soft soil, lift machine issues and the delivery of the machine’s spare parts being delayed due to Raya, Leonard postponed his work for a while.
Work resumed on Saturday (April 13) after everything was fine and dandy.
“With assistance from MBKS, the soil was covered by rocks and they even gave me steel plates for the machine to move around steadily.
The ‘Liang Teh’ mural is open for any interpretations after it is done, some people will look at it as a symbol of hope, a symbol of love and passion or a symbol of family.
But to Leonard, it is suffice to tell a story artfully.
