Saturday, August 01, 2009

The 'I AM' Project...I
























































Salleh and Ana my cousin and his wife started the catering business a few years back beginning with a restautant 'Nasi campur' on the corner of Sungai Pinang Road and What used to be the River road and now named Jalan Sugai, Georgertown Penang. For those who are looking for a typically Melayu Makan or Malay food while in Penang do drop by for lunch on weekdays, you might even catch me there perhaps on Friday after the Friday prayer. You will find an assorted collection of dishes typically Malay to your hearts' desire and for those who are on the road to find out this is a very comfortable and friendly place to venture your taste. The only inconvenience that you might encounter here is the fact that it is located on the junction of a very busy street and thus the ambiance is not what you would be paying for.

I work for my cousin during the weekends when there is catering services needed and what i do most is stir the large pots of curries from the begining till completion and while doing this I have been doing my ZikhrullAh meditation practice. Usuallly it will begin with the Astafargh ( Forgiveness) Zikhr which would followed by the rest as the day wore on. It helps keep my mind from wandering and focussed on the job at hand like not getting hot boiling oil splashing all over my toes. By the afternoon my shirt would have been soaked with sweat three times over and my legs would get wobbly from too much standing in one place. It reminds me that I am no more twenty but going on sixty and my body at the end of the day would be screaming to just lay down and pass out.
After the catering job I would head out to the university and spend the rest of the day attempting this and that to justify myself as being an artist. I enjoy the company here mostly as every so often someone would walk in from other parts of the world like my friend Shahram from Iran or Car Yin from Beijing China. Shahram is an architech by profession but a video art maker in practice. He is quite well known in many parts of the Art world for his video works and has just completed a project in collaboration with the Unity Project of Georgetown, Penang as part of the first annivesary of the Heritage Status of the City. The project was called I Am...and it involves the video interviews with anyone and everyone on the Street of Harmony in Georgetown which is also known as the Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.
The project was a collaboration between Shahram and Joe Sidek with Shamsul as the technician/camera man.
Text by Damina Khaira on the project:
"The 'I Am' project is the first of the UNITY PROJECT series which engages with local communities in exploring issues of identity, culture and belonging in multi-cultural Malaysia.
This project is the process of self-defination that addresses the question of identity among the peoples of Penang who are made up of a variety of ethnicity, faith, gender, age, education and social status.
Here, we are curious to learn how emebers of Penang's vibrant community identify themselves in a heritage city that traces its roots to various parts of Asia and Europe.
Functioning as a video recording studio in which people enter to narrate their identity to the public, the cargo container that is placed in the heart of Penang's Street of harmony also symbolizes the voyages andmobility of diverse people who travelled to the shores of Penang.
In encouraging people to discuss and experiment their notions of identity with one another in the public space, the 'I Am' Project hopes to foster a sense of openess and dialogue amongst people, while inspiring them to celebrate the diversity that is unique only to Penang."

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