Brilliant pieces: Visitors checking out the artwork by disabled artists at the exhibition in Bangsar Shopping Centre, Kuala Lumpur. — SHAARI CHE MAT/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Foundation’s Art with Heart exhibition, a platform to showcase artworks by emerging and established homegrown disabled artists, is now on display at Bangsar Shopping Centre here.
The exhibition, titled Rising Together, displays masterpieces by local artists who interpreted a post-Covid-19 world through their experiences.
Sarah Abu Bakar, fine art consultant and curator of the event, said she had selected 53 artists with 136 pieces of artwork.
“Every piece of artwork on display is for sale with prices ranging from RM1,000 to RM22,000.
“Eighty per cent of the proceeds will go to the artist, and 20% of goes to RHB Foundation,” she told The Star.
After three years of hardship, she said, the platform aimed to promote the artwork of local artists.
“The exhibition features art pieces created with photography, hand-drawn, digital creation, augmented reality and more. There is something for everybody,” she added.
RHB group managing director Mohd Rashid Mohamad said the event had more participants, which reflected the growing impact of RHB’s Art with Heart within the local art scene.
“The year sees more inclusive and diversified artist participation, with 14 differently-abled artists, including visually impaired and autistic, emerging and established artists, with balanced gender representation.
“The past years have been very tough for everyone, especially those in the art industry.
“The Art with Heart Exhibition titled ‘Rising Together’ focuses on uplifting local artists and underlining RHB’s commitment to enriching the life of our community,” he said in his address at the exhibition’s preview.
A notable blind photographer at the event was Jamaliah Mohd Yasin, 68, who joined a 10-week photography class by Malaysian Association for the Blind to learn how to feel the heat of the sun in order to take photos from different angles.
“They taught different photography techniques for the blind, such as trying to discern the direction of sunlight.
“We went for an assignment during midday and practised how to capture a photo by feeling the sun from different angles, such as when we feel the heat from the left, we know where to stand to take nice photos,” she said.
Joining Jamaliah at the sensory photography exhibition were Vivian Kwek Chu Lan, who is partially blind, and Rashidi Abdullah who has mild visual impairment.
RHB Foundation’s Art for Heart event is part of RHB’s corporate responsibility initiative, with the exhibition running until Sept 11.
