Malaysian’s artwork selected for global competition

By TIN Media | Art & Culture Published 4 years ago on 4 November 2019
Read News

MALAYSIA:

Diong Swee Gaik  Malaysian designer, artist and illustrator, participated and couriered her artwork to the competition in Britain. Selected by a panel of leading wildlife artists, Diong’s artwork made it to the top 100 artworks from across 450 global entries. The participation was for the Explorers Against Extinction: Sketch For Survival (SFS) UK Tour 2019. Diong’s This Is My Home artwork draws attention to the critically endangered Malayan sun bear.

Sketch for Survival is an initiative of Explorers Against Extinction. It is a UK-based Trust dedicated to promoting the conservation of rare and endangered species, and the protection of their environments through various means.

Diong, 48 said, “I was in Jakarta for the ASEAN Kendo Tournament when I saw my name in the top 100 list selected from 450 global entries,”.

 In April, Diong was in Sabah to visit the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) in Sepilok, Sandakan. She had a close interaction with nature and learnt a lot about the Malaysian rainforest and its endangered animals. She was inspired to protect sun bears as they are on the verge of extinction.

She said that she learned about the Explorers Against Extinction competition from a friend’s Facebook post. Upon seeing the post she felt the urge to participate and highlight the Malayan sun bear’s plight to an international audience through her artwork.

With the artwork, Diong highlighted two issues - the extinction of sun bears and the need to protect our Malaysian rainforest. The artwork depicts a sun bear sitting on a bird’s nest fern on a treetop canopy with a distant look as if asking, “What does the future hold?”

Under BSBCC’s Share Bear Adoption programme. Diong, has also adopted a sun bear named Montom.

Diong’s artwork will be on tour alongside professional artists and celebrities in the SFS Invitational Collection. The exhibition is currently touring Britain until November and thereafter, the works will be sold to raise funds for the Trust.

 


    TAGS / KEYWORDS:

Email TIN

TIN Media

TIN.media - Travel Industry Network is Malaysia's home grown B2B Travel Industry Media with the most influential B2B online resources including news, research, events, and marketing services and more.