Many Malaysian artists have moved from the rat race of Kuala Lumpur to enjoy the peaceful lifestyle of Melaka (Malacca). Melaka is a cheaper place to live which in itself is less stressful allowing artists to create work from the heart in preference to more commercial work.

The artists often live and work in a shop-house that doubles as a gallery. Visitors have the opportunity to meet the artists as well as enjoying and perhaps buying their work.

On this page I cannot show the full range of arts workers who live in Melaka but have chosen a few who I have had the pleasure to meet.

Photos from top

Leong Hock Khoon and Tan Wei Teng in their gallery in Melaka Chinatown. This gallery is filled with the music of Teng's windchimes for which she is quite well known.

Two examples of Teng's ceramic work.

Baba Nyonya is a blend of Chinese and Malay cultures that is slowly disappearing. Khoon captures elements of that culture in many of his paintings.

Kim Chang was a carpenter. At the age of 25 he fell from the fourth floor of a construction site. Injuries to his legs prevented him from returning to his trade. This led to a major rethink of his life. Kim studied art in Malaysia, Singapore and Paris. He is shown here in his gallery in Chinatown, Melaka.

As well as paintings and ceramics, Kim uses skills learned as a carpenter to produce sculptures in timber, both new and recycled. Many of his sculptures, such as this stool, are functional.

Raymond Yeo practices the craft that his great-grandfather introduced to Malaka about 75 years ago. In those days little girls had their feet bound to prevent them from growing. Such was the Chinese concept of beauty. The custom has now died out. Raymond has only one customer who still wears the shoes he makes specially for bound feet. This elderly woman travels from Singapore to buy her shoes from Raymond. Fortunately, the craft is kept alive with sales of the tiny shoes as souvenirs.

As I walk down the laneways of Chinatown each morning the fronts of the shop-houses are often open. I can take a peek and see what business is conducted from each house. There are two blacksmith shops, a few tinsmiths, a couple of shops assemble bicycles, one produces batik t-shirts, another makes decorated clogs. Often I see people making thin cane frames onto which they stick paper to make a sculpture of sorts. I noticed this man making paper figures in the shop next to the coffin shop. As I stopped to watch he smiled so I ventured in for a closer look.

He was making these dolls. I asked if he spoke English. 'No,' he replied. When I held up my camera he moved the dolls back so that I could get a good shot. I asked what they were for. I do not know if he understood but he said, 'One boy, one girl go...' and he pointed across the street to the funeral parlour. Later I discovered that when someone is buried the dolls are burned. It is believed that they accompany the deceased to the spirit world.

I met these two young guys in the night market in Jonker Street. They do seal engraving. The engravings can be used with sealing wax or like a rubber stamp. They live with their father, a noted water-colourist in the next street. Ze King does the engraving. His brother Ze Hoe is a better talker so he does the sales pitch and explains it all. They have these stone stamps (soap stone) with different designs at the top. The stones come from China and the carving is done there too. They have a little book which lists every imaginable name in English and a Chinese translation. By translation I mean how the name would be written phonetically in Chinese (Mandarin). Some are made of several characters. The one I bought for my grandson, Ben, has just one. They have another book that shows ancient versions of the letter. I picked the one I like best from the ancient versions, choosing one that could still be recognised as the modern character. Ze Hoe then sands down the face of the stone so it is flat while Ze King draws up the character. When the stone is ready, Ze King draws the character on the face of the stone and cuts it out with a knife. Ze Hoe does a test printing and Ze King can do further work if needed

Susyilawati Sulaiman is an installation artist who spends her time between Kuala Lumpur and Melaka. Susy is concerned that as Chinatown becomes a tourist attraction this brings inevitable changes that destroy the character that attracts tourists in the first place. Artists are often part of this process. They come to Melaka from other areas and move into heritage houses. Some paint the houses in bright colours that may be incongruent with the character of the area.

© copyright of artwork remains with the individual artists

© page copyright John Shield 2003, 2004