KUCHING: Kuching folk have been urged to work together to help promote the city’s street art to the world.
Kuching South City Council (MBKS) mayor Datuk Wee Hong Seng said as a new mural goes up in Jalan Padungan to celebrate its 100th anniversary and the traditional food culture there, he asked the creative and online communities to support the beautification of the city with public awareness and participation in online polls and social media engagement.
“I hope Kuching people will drop by and see this mural as it emerges and, of course, buy some kuih as we prepare to welcome the year of the rabbit and more importantly, let’s support the efforts from the artist behind the painting, Leonard Siaw, by posting its progress on social media.
“Then Leonard and Kuching can get the recognition they both deserve,” he said.
He added that this would be the first of five murals planned for the city over the next year.
“It is also the latest in a long line of incredible artworks that has adorned our city and we are a creative city, not just in gastronomy that the mural represents, but also in the creative industries that come along with it.
“We want everyone to appreciate the talents that we have here,” he added.
Wee stated that the attention of the online world was an incredible boost and helped put Kuching on the world map.
“This is crowd sourced, the opinions of real people in the real world. Let us lend our voices to the crowd as a city and share our best kept secrets with everyone who will listen.
“We need all Sarawakians to vote for this to maintain our city in the top 100 and we have so many to choose from already and so many more to come.
“For sure, we cannot all paint like Leonard but we can participate as a community in any way we can, by appreciating his skill and ability on a global stage.”
