Penang murals now just shadows of their past

Gone with the wind – and rain: Visitors taking a picture of one of Zacharevic’s murals of a man sitting on a trishaw in Upper Penang Road. Some murals have already vanished, while others are still visible but fading. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star

GEORGE TOWN: Nothing can be so good that it lasts forever – case in point, Penang’s beloved street murals are nearly gone, victims of the vagaries of the weather.

In 2012, for the George Town Festival (which celebrates the city’s inscription as a Unesco World Heritage Site), the state commissioned Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic to paint murals that depict Penang’s idyllic lifestyle.