Spotlight on Indian Malaysian Artists

By Ooi Kok Chuen

August 2021 PENANG PALETTE
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WHY ARE THERE so few artists of Indian (including Singhalese) descent in Malaysia?Some possible factors one finds bandied about are: Economic status, parental / social disapprobation, opportunity, (lack of) role models, patronage, minority syndrome (proportionately smaller population, of only 6.2%), “estranged” Indian-ish themes, and discrimination.Indian creatives, however, are heavily concentrated in the performing arts – in dance, theatre and music (mostly classical traditional). You can’t find Indians in art groups like Thursday Art Group and Utara, while there is “token”...

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Ooi Kok Chuen

is an art-writer and journalist, and the author of MAHSURI: A Legend Reborn (Ooi Peeps Publishing), an adult contemporary fantasy “movel” (a novel conceived as a mock movie) spun from a local legend.


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