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.
They were a hit and hundreds of thousands of visitors nearly every month went to hunt down those murals in town and take pictures with them.
But the wheel of time and the inexorable strength of the elements are eroding them; they are fading away.
It has been 11 years, and a few of those endearing murals have entirely disappeared.
Several are still visible, like the “Children on a Bicycle” near the corner of Armenian Street and Beach Street, the “Boy on a Bike” near the corner of Ah Quee Street and Beach Street, and the “Boy on a Chair” along Cannon Street.
Tourists still line up on weekends to take pictures with the murals, but they have to adjust the contrast and colour saturation because Zacharevic’s works are now shadows of their former selves.
Student Ahmad Akil Izuddil, 21, from Melaka, went with his friend Nurfatin Aqilah Kamarul Arifin, 21, with their families in search of the murals.
“We read a lot about the murals in Penang and wanted to see them for ourselves, especially ‘Children on a Bicycle’.
“But the mural does not look as good as what we saw from pictures,” he lamented yesterday.
Ahmad Akil said he felt that the relevant authorities or heritage and art associations should look into the issue of the ageing murals to see how they could be preserved.
Nurfatin Aqilah said she felt sad to see the images being eroded by the passage of time.
“The murals are cute and interesting. I really wanted to see them, but now I feel sad that they are fading away,” she said.
A tourist from China, Chao Che, 75, said the Penang murals are a tourist magnet for his countrymen.
“I came here specifically to see the murals, but unfortunately, they have diminished,” he said.
The grandfather of three hopes the authorities will preserve those murals, adding that “they have become the socio-cultural identity of George Town”.
Foo Zee Zou, 14, who came with her family from Singapore, was delighted to see some of the old murals in person.
If there are plans to repaint them, the teenager said she hopes it will not be done excessively as it “would kill the originality of the art”.
State tourism and creative economy chairman Wong Hon Wai confirmed that plans are afoot to touch up the eroded murals in George Town.
But as a form of courtesy, the state wanted to reach out to the original painter before repainting them, he said.
“We have contacted Zacharevic’s lawyer through Penang Global Tourism and we are waiting for the answer,” he said, adding that the matter was also brought up during the state legislative assembly meeting.
