Life in multicultural colour
You can visit smalltown Malaysia through Kide Baharudin’s paintings.
KIDE Baharudin has always been drawn to all things old – from music to fashion and the lifestyle of “the good old days”. The fact that these were all from an era before he was born, does not faze this 30-year-old in the least.
“Lagi lama, lagi best (the older, the better). In my eyes, the old times were so great,” he says.
It is no surprise that Kide’s Pe’el solo exhibition at the Tun Perak Co-op in Kuala Lumpur, which ended its run last month, is firmly set in the sights and sounds of Kuala Pilah, Negri Sembilan in the 1950s and 1960s.
He is proud of his hometown’s multiracial past, present and future.
“While riding my bicycle around Kuala Pilah, I often tried to imagine what it was like in the past. I asked my parents about their childhood and they shared some interesting stories with me,” says Kide.
“But the best stories emerge when they catch up with old friends and start lamenting how much times have changed. They would reminisce about how people lived harmoniously, regardless of race or religion ... about how they would go to parties or fun fairs together, either by bicycle or on foot ... how life was simple, but they were happy and relished in the everyday,” he adds.
Currently, he has a series of six paintings at the group show
Warnanegara at Segaris Art Center in KL. The exhibit ends Sept 20.
The Malaysia Day-themed show is perfect for a “storytelling” artist like Kide who has seen his works readily accepted in the fine art scene.
His illustrator background has not worked against him.
For Kide, these stories and characters serve as an inspiration for his art. The hours of oral documentation, talking to his parents and their friends from Kuala Pilah has paid off.
This method of “archiving the past” also made him reflect on how important it is to never forget where you come from and who you are.
His paintings of Kuala Pilah are lively and colourful, featuring ordinary Malaysians working in a padi field, family life, friends at a party and even people having more than a soft drink at the local kopitiam.
“I want to have all kinds of people represented in my works.”
He muses that these tales are very different from reading a historical account from say, a textbook, because they are memories that are embellished with emotions and personal experiences.
“What I wanted to do initially was to simply convey the stories of our elders through my art. But indirectly, it got me interested in taking a closer look at the social and cultural history of our country and its people. There is just so much to rediscover,” he says.
Development and modernisation have brought great change to how we live our lives now. Kide notes that in smaller towns, most young people have left their hometowns for bigger cities in search of better jobs and opportunities.
“What is left behind are the elderly folk in their old houses,” he says.
Kide is clearly sentimental about the past and its traditions, values and what it stands for. He attempts to capture a part of that in his works, including diversity and harmony in his paintings.
“The characters in my works are multi-cultural, everyone has their own story and style. This is important to me when it comes to my art because it is the people that makes a country. Patriotism and love for the country should come from the heart and be expressed through actions, not words,” he concludes.
Kide’s interest in capturing the past has certainly brought him places. In 2017, he won the Vans Asia Custom Culture competition and he designed a collection with the brand earlier this year.