Mulaika, A Wunderkind

By Farhira Farudin

Most of the times spent wandering in art galleries, more specifically our National Art Gallery, I’d always come up with the realisation that I could barely relate to any of the artworks exhibited. Like poetry itself, we are taught in schools to appreciate and learn artworks made by artists we could barely relate to. In other words, artists that came from an entirely different generation than ours.

Hence, having Mulaika Nordin as the youngest person ever to have her work exhibited at the National Art Gallery feels like a needed change in the arts and creative industry.

Her exhibition titled “A Thousand Days of Change” revolves around the theme of loss, family and self, travel and school life. The exhibition showcases 55 of her best works, including six short films written, produced and directed by the artist herself and the rest are paintings done with acrylic on canvas.

In “Bilik Kounseling”, Mulaika painted a girl in baju kurung, standing in a typical school counselling room, whose head is shown exploded with blood scattered on the wall. Mulaika has said in an interview with The Sun that the painting was inspired from her own personal experience going to a counselling session at her school. She described the experience to be shocking, and the 15-year-old painter knew she had to translate her uneasy experience into a painting.

Most of her work are created from her personal experiences, from feeling empathic for her friend who suffered from broken rib cage to capturing her grandfather’s passion for gardening, her abstract visuals can be interpreted to various meanings that lets the audience to interpret on their own according to their own emotions and experiences. In “Life and Water”, Mulaika captured the pain she felt when she got stung by jellyfish in the form of acrylic painting, with different hues of blues scattered all over a canvas.

Albeit the fact that she is still new in the industry, her works executed maturity and rawness simultaneously, thus it should be no surprise she got her big break at such an early age.

In many of the critics’ interpretation of her work, it is hard to neglect the constant admiration of how young she is. Perhaps it is strange to meet someone so young yet full of wisdom and maturity. A reporter even mentioned how Mulaika is different than other teenagers out there who apparently are “wild, hormone-raged and clueless”. This begs us to ask the question whether it’s true that Mulaika isn’t like any other teenager out there or perchance we are being judgemental towards the younger generation and rarely give them the chance to show their creative and critical side.

And Mulaika has hopes that this would soon change in the future.

She told in an interview that hopefully her exhibition can lead the path to young artists to be given opportunities in the art world. This is because the industry itself can be harsh and judgemental towards young talents where they would often go unrecognised due to their age. And Mulaika has proven to be a stepping stone to a more positive change in the local arts scene.

Photo sources: www.mulaika.com