Peace be upon you all. Something from last weekend...
Saturday 5th January 11am I went to the Petronas Gallery at KLCC to attend a function.
A new art exhibition has just started and I was invited along with a number of bloggers to be shown around by the curator.
The curator is Prof Dr Muliyadi Mahamood from UiTM's Faculty of Art & Design. The exhibition is called Taman Nurani which could be translated as Garden of the Heart.
Muliyadi said the works displayed were chosen from Petronas catalogs which contains thousands. Of these, just over a hundred were deemed relevant to the theme and these were shortlisted to 56 pieces. The exhibition covers works done from as early as 1969 to the present day.
OK. I have been invited to a number of art exhibitions before including at the Petronas Gallery. But I was never much of an art person. So my appreciation might be cursory.
Still I had my own fun interpreting things to my own satisfaction. For example these pieces titled "Voyage" (if I remember correctly) might imply the artiste' personal voyage in soul-searching. But it reminds me instead of islands floating in the air as in the movie "Avatar".
There came to a point that I just could not concentrate anymore. You see I was attending a seminar at Pusat Islam (the Islamic centre besides the National Mosque) which to me talks about much more important things, among it the real status of Islam under the constitution which is very very important especially under the present onslaught of certain people who are trying to demean its position. But since I've said yes to the invitation to this art function, I had to leave in the middle of a very interesting talk among many...
The talk was made by a former National Chief Judge, Tun Dato' Seri Ahmad Fairuz. Between hearing out a person of such prominence talking about topics dear to me and spending time with some bloggers and artworks which should I prefer?
You see I've started a loose organisation called HIKMAH which is trying to achieve the same aim of putting Islam up at its right pedestal. The organisation might only be 3 months old but it is already in the midst of setting up its 3rd function coming soon in Lumut, hopefully to be graced by the Sultan of Perak. Refer to the blogspot
Himpunan Kedaulatan Melayu Islam
Akhir Zaman (HIKMAH).
At times I felt like just leaving this gallery to rush back to Pusat Islam if not for the fact that I'm still a decent person trying to respect an invitation. Then I calmed myself down in the name of almighty Allah and submerged myself to the dictation of fate as He detemined...
I started feeling nice about the gallery and the artwork.
Mind you I could appreciate this much better alone and not when I'm in the middle of trying to stomach something I felt more important.
So there you have it, Taman Nurani, Garden of the Heart... or rather my take on it based on the situation then. The exhibition is open to anyone until middle of February if I'm not mistaken.
After this I'm going to share 10 selected pictures e-mailed to me by the representatives of the organisers. Check out the next article...
