Photograph courtesy kon wee pang and memphis in may
Every year, the Memphis in May International Festival salutes a different country whose culture and commerce has intersected with our city. For 2023, the national honoree is Malaysia.
Photograph courtesy kon wee pang and memphis in may
Artist Kong Wee Pang in her Memphis studio.
Artist Kong Wee Pang came to Memphis from Malaysia in 2001 to study at the Memphis College of Art and has made the city her home ever since. Her work has been shown in galleries all over the world, and her design clients include Adobe software, the Hilton hotel chain, Planned Parenthood, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and FedEx. Her talents were a natural fit to create the 2023 Memphis in May fine art poster.
“I imagine the Wau and the hornabill flying across the Pacific to land in Memphis, sharing good luck and harmony to the USA.”
— Kong Wee Pang
“This piece of art I created for Memphis In May was inspired from Malaysia’s biodiverse rainforests,” she says. “I chose to use watercolor on an unprimed canvas. In Chinese we have an idiom which translates roughly to, ‘When you drink water, remember the spring where you originally come from.’ Malaysia has two regions: Peninsular Malaysia in the West and East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Around 60 to 70 percent of the landmass is tropical rainforest, so I used the hornbill, Sarawak state’s emblem, to symbolize a healthy, mega-diverse forest.”
Photograph courtesy kon wee pang and memphis in may
The blue shades, which represent the tropical rains which feed Borneo’s rainforest, form the shape of a traditional Malay kite known as a wau bulan, or “moon kite,” which the artist says “embodies the diversity of the country. The Wau represents our rich traditions, cultures, cuisines, and warm hospitality. These are two of Malaysia’s most recognizable national symbols. I imagine the Wau and the hornabill flying across the Pacific to land in Memphis, sharing good luck and harmony to the USA.”
A hibiscus blossom, Malaysia’s national flower, provides a splash of scarlet in the lower right of the image. The two pillars rising from the center are the Petronas Towers, the tallest twin buildings in the world, which rise 1,483 above Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian capital is a river town, sitting at the intersection of two rivers, the Klang and the Gombak, and takes its name from the confluence of the muddy waters. Memphis can relate.
