• MISC

    Nominee for ALMA 2024

    I’m delighted to share some incredible news: I’ve been nominated for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2024!

    This recognition means the world to me, and I couldn’t have reached this point without the support of my amazing readers and the wonderful people in my life. Thank you!

    Discover the full list of outstanding candidates at alma.se/en.

    The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was created in 2002 by the Swedish government to promote every child’s right to great stories. This global award is given annually to a person or organisation for their outstanding contribution to children’s and young adult literature. With a prize of five million Swedish kronor, it is the largest award of its kind. Administrated by the Swedish Arts Council.

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  • BOOKS,  my books

    2023 New Books

    Greetings!

    It has been quite some time since my last post, and I’m excited to share with you some updates on my recent endeavours. I am delighted to announce the publication of several books that I have both authored and co-authored.

    One of my works, titled “Kembara Seni di Vienna” (Art Travel in Vienna), is a captivating self-published travelogue. This journey took place in 2019 when I travelled to Vienna as part of my jury duty at the prestigious BIB 2019 Awards held in Bratislava, Slovakia. Vienna was a natural choice for me, being conveniently located just an hour’s drive away from Bratislava. Before immersing myself in the jury duties, I made sure to explore Vienna, where I had the incredible opportunity to witness the mesmerizing masterpieces of Klimt.

    It brings me great joy to share that “Kembara Seni di Vienna” has been published in the Malay Language. The project was made possible through the generous support of MyCreative and Penjana, two esteemed local bodies dedicated to fostering and uplifting local creatives. Their sponsorship made this publication a reality, and I’m deeply grateful for their encouragement and assistance.

    The next travelogue published this year is “Jerman, Kami Datang!” (Germany, Here We Come!)—a captivating travelogue destined to enchant hearts far and wide. Within its pages lies a treasure trove of enchantment – an anthology crafted with love, adorned with essays that breathe life, illustrations that paint vivid dreams, photography that captures fleeting moments, poems that dance with emotion, and short stories that beckon you to unknown realms.

    The travelogue is a journey of discovery, hand in hand with eight intrepid storytellers—each bearing the gift of their unique perspective, unyielding in their quest to traverse the German landscapes and unravel the secrets that lie within the cities of Mainz, Karlsruhe, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Baden-Baden.

    Beneath a sky ablaze with passion, we chose to bear the weight of this enchanting voyage. Determined, we clasped hands and made a pact to share the burden of birthing our creation. Thus, with hearts aflame and dreams alight, we pledged to uphold the costs and herald this literary gem into existence.

    In this daring dance of destiny, Dua Penulis PLT emerged as the beacon of our ambitions. A small, intrepid, independent publisher – a testament to the indomitable spirits of our two friends: Dr Noor Hayati Yasmin and Norsa’adah Ahmad, who donned both hats – writer and publisher. Other co-authors are Zalila Isa, Mimi Salleh, Yan Yahaya, Zanariah Salam, Nilam Tang and yours truly.

    Should you be interested to buy these two books, you can visit my Shopee shop to purchase them.

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  • MISC

    Pameran Pasca-Jerman

    My friends and I visited Germany from 14 to 30 October 2022 and we have a lot to share so we decided to have this exhibition featuring our artwork, travel journals, some merchandise and whatnot. Please do come if you have free time!

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  • Pointillism

    Escapism

    Been awhile.

    The gap of postings have becoming more and more longer––from a week to a month and now, 8 months. I came up with this pointilism painting recently.

    Titled ‘Pink Meadow’ this art visualise one of the many landscapes that I picked from my brain. If life is about creating the ideal world that we want to live in, I would paint meadows, people with only good hearts, more trees and animals (excluding the creepy crawly ones).

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  • MISC

    SKB Bookcamp 1

    Had the honour to be a mentor for SKB Book Camp. The camp’s objective is to get the participants (selected SKB’s Peer Writers) to finish their picture books. We started off with storyboard presentations and later get the participants to create their artworks. Most of the participants has no art backgrounds and this is where I came in. I suggested the syle and mediums they can use as well as the composition and how to do it. The impossible became possible and the participants, I think, gained insight on how to illustrate their picture books. Their passion and commitment are endless.

    All the best to all Peer writers/illustrators!

    Date: 15 & 16 January 2022
    Venue: Level 3, GMBB, KL.

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  • BLOG BM

    Neo-impressionisme

    Teringat saya tahun lepas (beberapa minggu lepas), ada seorang pengunjung masuk ke galeri Emilatopia. Sambil melihat-lihat lukisan saya, dia tersenyum dan kemudian bertanyakan jika saya artisnya. Saya menjawab ‘ya’ dan memperkenalkan diri saya. Dia memperkenalkan dirinya sebagai ahli sejarah seni tetapi tidak memberitahu namanya. Dia bercerita tentang Monet dan aliran Impresionisme dan bertanya adakah saya berinspirasi dari Monet sambil menunjuk kepada kepada lukisan pointilisme saya di dinding galeri. Saya menyangkal dan menerangkan sebenarnya saya berinspirasi dari Paul Signac dan Georges Seurat dari aliran neo-impresionisme dengan gaya pointilisme. Dia seolah tidak mendengar dengan jelas dan minta saya mengulangi nama-nama tersebut. Saya menyebut semula nama-nama tersebut, namun dia menggelengkan kepalanya sambil mengerutkan dahinya. “Oh, saya tidak pernah dengar nama mereka, hmm mungkin pengetahuan saya dalam genre seni yang lain,” katanya sambil menyebut-menyebut nama Monet sekali lagi dan menerangkan tentang lukisan Monet yang saya sendiri tahu rupa bentuknya. “Oh ya?” kata saya untuk tidak menyinggung perasaannya.

    Sebelum dia melangkah pergi, dia memberitahu lukisan wanita saya mirip lukisan-lukisan dari Taiwan. Saya berterima kasih kepadanya kerana sudi melihat lukisan saya. Kemudian saya ambil telefon pintar saya dan menGoogle ‘seni dari Taiwan’. Saya tidak dapat lihat persamaannya di mana. Saya menggaru kepala.

    Tree of Life | 2021

    Pada nota lain, bercerita tentang lukisan wanita, lukisan Tree of Life (atas ini) saya letak di ruang hadapan galeri. Antara pandangan yang kedengaran dari belakang tabir (saya duduk di sebalik skrin penghadang hujung galeri) dan yang disampaikan terus kepada saya:
    1: when I saw her, I have to come closer and look at the details. Beautiful, really.
    2: I love the colour combination, I can relate to it.
    3: I am not into art but hey this is beautiful.
    4: Ho liang ah!
    5: Aaa… that’s pretty!
    6: Bagi aku perempuan ni tak cantik.

    Kita tidak dapat memenuhi citarasa semua orang. Definisi cantik kita berbeza dan kejujuran itu amat dihargai.

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