Kenyalang (or Hornbill) is an artwork personal yet I feel must share with the world because of my love for birds and nature. This 47.1 x 47.1inches abstract acrylic painting is named Kenyalang - a species of bird threatened by trafficking and also by hunted down by poachers as they are prized by collectors in parts of Asia. There are 10 species altogether with the peninsular of Malaysia and Borneo combined and all hornbill species are totally protected birds under the Sarawak Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998, according to @wwfmy . When I created this work of art, I pictured myself as the beautiful and wondrous bird itself, graceful flying through the trees - living and surviving and when it falls, it rises again. I hope one day people will realize how reckless we have been, how selfish we are for not taking care of Mother Nature and its creatures the way we should have been. Kenyalang is also adorned with a Malaysian fantasy-thriller novelist— Ramlee Awang Murshid’s beautiful and elegant lines from Bagaikan Puteri series; “Awan..jika dapat kucapai maka saktilah hamba” as quoted by Sunan, which translated to “The coulds… If I could touch them with my bare hands then I am divine”
Kenyalang is pictured on an almost 4 x 4 feet primed cotton canvas, stretched on a pine panel and finished with gloss varnish. Made with 🖤 in Ipoh, Malaysia.
