Mdm. Mastura Abdul Rahman, a senior academic from the Faculty of Creative Multimedia (FCM) held a virtual launch for her art exhibition, titled “Taman Pesona: Lima Catan Baru”, recently. The exhibition consists of five paintings, one short documentary, one video of the curator’s talk on the artworks, and an exhibition catalogue. It also highlighted the conclusion of the grant support from the Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA) under Visual Arts Inspire Funding Programme.
Due to COVID-19, the event had to be held virtually from 15 August until 31st August. The exhibition was to showcase the results of the ‘action/studio’ research undertook through appropriate stages. It also helped the creative multimedia students or scholars to do some research and to create creative content. Mr. Anwar Azhari, a curator from Rumah Seni Selangor (RusSEL), officiated the opening of the exhibition and moderated the online opening talk. More than 50 spectators including students, academics, the art community, and CENDANA officers also attended the opening session. The event was also supported by a number of people involved in the project: curator, designer, photographer, videographer, main writer, as well as invited essayists and poets. All of them were from art and creative backgrounds.
“Taman Pesona” or “The Garden of Delights” narrates on Paduka Baginda Cik Siti Wan Kembang, a 17th century Queen of Kelantan, especially at Her Majesty’s reigned region of Taman Serendah Sekebun Bunga. The five paintings were inspired by Mastura’s reading of a historical-drama book about the legendary figure, as well as Mastura’s creative journey to Taman Serendah Sekebun Bunga and nearby areas of the figure’s reigned region. The paintings illustrate the daily activities of Cik Siti Wan Kembang including at the silat’s ground, choosing the palace’s Mak Yong troupe, at the durian’s orchard, trading at the jetty, and deer hunting in the woods. Through the daily activities, Mastura also centered the good characteristics of Cik Siti Wan Kembang as a ruler. From these paintings, Mastura who is known for her stylistic paintings of Malay traditional interior architecture has now started to change to exterior composition, as well as to venture into new ideas by choosing subjects and sources of local historical narratives. You may view the exhibition here.
