Art unearthed

Harta director Mirsham Meer. As a company rooted in timeless creations and inspired craftsmanship, Habib set up Harta to promote local arts, history and culture to a wider audience. — AZLINA ABDULLAH/The Star

AT Malaysian luxury jeweller Habib’s Ampang II Showroom, customers walking in are likely to find the usual sumptuous suspects: Gleaming glass counters lined with finely crafted gold jewellery, vast diamond and gem collections, and impeccable service.

The 8,000 sq ft space that sits above it, however, is one that few might expect. Opened last year, the brand’s public initiative, Harta, brings to the location a refined yet welcoming creative hub that encompasses a heritage jewellery museum, art gallery and café.

Here, visitors are invited to explore an entrancing collection of curated heritage jewellery pieces from Peranakan traditions, sit down and converse over a cup of coffee, or soak in unique works of art showcased at the gallery.

Over the several months since its launch, the art venue has been host to a number of unique exhibitions. In April, it unveiled its first ever photography showcase, Sacred Currents by renowned photographer SC Shekar.

Occupying Harta’s gallery were 30 captivating images documenting Malaysia’s wealth of rivers and riverine environments, shot from helicopters and aeroplanes. The entirety of the exhibition was in black and white, throwing the rich details of each landscape into sharp relief. The result was a stirring, evocative homage to our country’s waterways.

“I was blown away,” Mirsham Meer, director of Harta, tells us. “It doesn’t only show the beauty, elegance and sheer size and power of Malaysian rivers, but also the importance of the rivers and the lives around them.”

He adds that Shekar’s photos offer a perspective of these rivers and communities that is seldom seen. “It’s helped me build a bit more of an appreciation for our environment.”

“The photos in the exhibition are completely stunning, and a lot of them don’t look like they’re in Malaysia,” he observes. “Sometimes we can almost feel it’s so beautiful that we think it can’t be a part of Malaysia, but that raises the question, why don’t you expect Malaysia to be beautiful?”

This reflection sums up the reason Harta was established — to better highlight the nation’s richly diverse cultural identity and provide a platform for local creativity and beauty to truly shine.

A creative canvas

The name Harta stands for Habib: Action for the Revival of our Traditions and Arts. As a company rooted in timeless creations and inspired craftsmanship, Habib set up Harta to promote local arts, history and culture to a wider audience.

“We are a very proud Malaysian brand and we want to spread that pride to more people,” Mirsham explains. “A lot of the younger generation don’t know much about our cultural and creative history, so we wanted to show that through our jewellery, as well as through our artistic talent, which is what the gallery space is for.”

The heritage jewellery museum features over 800 jewellery pieces from the Peranakan Chinese, Peranakan Jawi and Peranakan Chitty communities, collected over a period of 65 years. Meanwhile, the gallery portion of the space boasts new exhibitions every few weeks, spotlighting a diverse range of art and artists.

Additionally, the café also serves as a site for cultural discovery, with talks and workshops by experts on subjects such as textiles, jewellery, film and music.

As Harta’s museum component celebrates Malaysia’s storied past with a largely permanent collection on display, the adjacent art gallery on the other hand offers a versatile platform for art works that express the nation’s ever-evolving present.

“The gallery space is a lot more dynamic, and we can do more with it,” Mirsham explains. “Along with the art showcases we’ve had, we have also done events with NGOs. For example, we did one with Rimau to premiere one of their documentaries.”

“We’ve also worked with the Melaka Chetty Peranakan community for a book launch and helped educate people about the Chetty Peranakans. We are able to do things that we feel are important to talk about,” he adds.

So far, the gallery’s exhibitions have included oil and acrylic paintings on canvas, textiles, digital art, text-based art and ballpoint pen art. Its halls have also seen a wide variety of works from both emerging and established artists.

“We want to showcase a range of different art styles and mediums, as well as a range of artists, particularly in terms of career stages,” he says. “The main criteria is that they have to be Malaysian, and the themes and narratives have to be something that we resonate with; something that feels significant for us to promote.”

Proudly local

Looking around the polished space and its exhibits, one would not have guessed that Harta was put together in only four months. “We were figuring it out as we went along, and were looking at a very short timeline,” Mirsham recalls. “I think the team did an incredible job getting to launch day on time and at the quality that they did.”

The gallery’s inaugural exhibition, Open House, remains one of his favourite showcases because it featured a diverse selection of art mediums. Curated by Aminah Ibrahim, the presentation boasted works from 16 talents, all revolving around the idea of the home.

“She split the gallery into a kitchen, living room, bedroom and garden, and each room had its own theme with artworks that corresponded to that theme,” he explains.

“We had paintings, wooden and ceramic sculptures, and even a video game installation created by Chong Yan Chuah, in which players could explore a virtual house filled with objects and details based on the artist’s childhood and current home. That was a really interesting show.”

Mirsham, who worked in private equity before joining his family’s business, is quick to credit the capable team for the skillful handling of Harta’s day-to-day operations. “Coming from a finance background, I do not have experience running a gallery and museum, but we have a very competent team who do it well,” he states.

The gallery space, he reveals, is currently booked out until March next year. After the Sacred Currents exhibition finished its run, a textile show took its place, followed by a sculpture show. More workshops and talks are also scheduled to be held at the hub in the near future.

For him, Harta serves a need within the nation’s burgeoning arts and culture scene that has not been fully met. “There are amazing galleries and museums locally, but perhaps not enough,” he opines. “Some have suggested to us that the art gallery space is already so saturated, but we’ve learned that it’s not, because we get a lot of enquiries, visitors and support. I think a lot more can be done.”

Asked what he hopes visitors take away from spending time at Harta, he answers without missing a beat: “Pride in what Malaysia has to offer, whether it’s jewellery, design, or craftsmanship within our rich history and artistic talents.”

He adds that another positive outcome would be for visitors to leave having learned something new. “We want to target more people who haven’t experienced art,” he says.

“The art community here is super supportive of each other, and there’s a nice collector base, but it’s still quite small. So we want to leverage on our network to encourage more people to appreciate Malaysian art.”

This article first appeared in Star Biz7 weekly edition.