Malaysia
Artist
Keith Miller
(Canadian, b. 1949)
Date1989
MediumWatercolor
DimensionsSheet Dimension (page height x width): 15 × 11 in. (38.1 × 27.9 cm)
ClassificationsWatercolor
Credit LineGift of the artist
Terms
Object number2015.25.46
DescriptionPresented in a wooden case, this book contains 16 watercolors painted in March and April, 1989 on the island of Duyong Besar, ('Big Mermaid Island') off the east coast of Malaysia near the city of Kuala Terengganu. It was at the time a traditional Malay village of fishermen and boatbuilders. The scarcity of fish and of tropical hardwood have taken a toll, though boatbuilding activity continues. With the island now connected to the mainland with a bridge, the nature of island life has changed. These paintings, therefore represent a record and a memory of an earlier period in the in the island's history; its wooden architecture, native dress and verdant landscape are fast disappearing.
Miller commented that one role that art can play is in the recording of memory - the snapshot of a culture and period lost.
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