OVER 20,000 people gathered in Dataran Merdeka (Merdeka Square) to mark the occasion, including the Duke of Gloucester, the King and Queen of Thailand and the Prime Minister of India.
A regally-attired bespectacled man stood up in the field at Merdeka Stadium and declared 'Merdeka!' seven times to thunderous applause from the thousands gathered there.
The iconic words were uttered by Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, known as Malaysia's Father of Independence (Bapa Kemerdekaan). Tunku was the nation's first Prime Minister until he stepped down in 1970.
Three men, including Tunku, stood shoulder to shoulder as they witnessed the historic birth of a country. The Alliance party led by Tunku, Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun V. T. Sambanthan convinced Malaya's multi-cultural citizens about the importance of presenting a united front to the British before independence was achieved.
The Alliance went on to play an important role in negotiating the transition from British rule to independence, and facilitating the preparation of its Constitution.
In 1955, Tunku, along with Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun V. T. Sambanthan, made a trip to London to negotiate Malayan independence, and Aug 31, 1957 was decided as the date. The rest is history.
As the visages of the three founding fathers of Malaysia gaze back at me from the canvasses propped against the wall, an overwhelming sense of pride sweeps over me like a wave.
Sixty-three years have passed and these three men have since become a symbol of our unique multiracial identity.
For artist Vivian Ng Suet Yuan, her patriotism has resulted in three evocative artworks paying tribute to these men.
"What better way to appreciate their contribution in uniting our nation and helping us gain our independence?" she asks, smiling.
These are no ordinary paintings. These iconic faces are formed from a sea of fingerprints — hers.
UNIQUE MARKINGS
What's in a fingerprint? Fingerprints and footprints have long maintained a visceral power to connect us — on a human level — to our inherent identity.
Human fingerprints are detailed, unique, difficult to alter and durable over the life of an individual, making them suitable as lifelong markers of human identity.
In a world where fingerprints are increasingly used for identification, the thumbprint as used by Vivian in her work has a much greater impact now as a symbol of oneself and identity.
The diminutive 28-year-old explains: "A thumbprint is the most important identity of a person and is unique to each person."
Using her unique identity marker to create these portraits, she adds, is symbolic of the multicultural identity that's distinctly Malaysian.
A quick glance at Vivian's latest work and it could be easy to simply write it off as swirling, Van Gogh-inspired works of art.
By now we all know that there's always much more hidden in the details when it comes to fine art (conceptually or aesthetically) and that spending an extra second investigating is usually worth it — which is exactly the case here.
Vivian, who instinctively knows how to make some serious magic happen with acrylics, takes thousands of her own fingerprints and creates tenacious works of art.
The lines are connected and extended to form finished pieces that languorously pulls the eye through loops created by a natural fingerprint.
By switching up the width and length of her fingerprints, she's able to portray different shadows, shapes and light into her work.
Both images of Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Sambanthan are depicted in monochrome while Tunku's image — the largest of the three and comprising nine canvasses — stand out with a splash of red, yellow and black.
"Which one of these do you like best?" she suddenly asks me curiously. "The monochrome ones," I confess. She isn't surprised. "Ah yes, they look a lot more realistic," she agrees as we gaze at her artworks.
Why colours then, for Tunku's portrait? I ask.
"It's symbolic," she replies solemnly.
She initially wanted to use the colours of the Malaysian flag, but decided that the blue wouldn't be as striking as black.
"I used colours, nevertheless," she shares, adding that the multi-colours represented the diverse multicultural landscape we live in.
"We're really blessed to live in this country," she avers. She grows quiet again before adding thoughtfully: "We're slowly failing to appreciate that our strength lies in our ability to live with each other. Racial unity was what these three men strove for while negotiating our country's independence. In my own small way, I wanted to remind Malaysians of that."
LOVE FOR HISTORY
The Pahang-born artist believes that reminiscing about history and our country's struggle for independence can give Malaysians a better perspective on our forefathers' fight to govern the nation themselves.
"I think we've lost sight of what makes us unique and wonderful in the eyes of the world," she remarks wistfully.
Vivian loves history. "What's not to love?" she muses, smiling. "They're living stories documented to allow us to look back in time. Through history, we can actually see how much we've achieved up to this point."
The idea of creating the artwork dawned upon her during the time when Malaysia was going through the Movement Control Order.
The epidemic had clarified the need for Malaysia to redouble her efforts to ensure that all citizens, including the most vulnerable, benefit moving forward.
"The call to rally together reminded me of the time when the nation needed to do the same to achieve independence," she tells me, adding: "Throughout the response and recovery stages of the epidemic, we must all step up and demonstrate solidarity. Now, more than ever, we need to stay united."
The desire to inspire Malaysians came as she sat to watch the news every night.
"Divisive politics seem to dominate our news aside from the regular updates of the Covid-19 cases. I just felt so sad. It seems that we've forgotten the ideals that led to the birth and identity of our country," she laments.
As August loomed, Vivian felt she needed to contribute something to remind Malaysians to reconnect again to the building blocks laid by the nation's founding fathers.
"I'm just an artist. I'm not a politician and I can't hope to make real, tangible changes. I didn't want to just be sad or angry about the situation. I thought that if I created something that could inspire patriotism in just one Malaysian, it'd be worth the effort to try," she shares.
She initially wanted to paint a portrait of Tunku and it took about a month to think of the concept. A lot of research went into creating his portrait.
"I learnt about fingerprint art through YouTube and thought that this would be a perfect way to showcase how our Malaysian identity is uniquely tied to our multicultural society," she explains.
Using the thumbprint of her right hand, Vivian embarked on her first-ever fingerprint portrait of Tunku, aptly entitled Hargai Keharmonian (Treasure our Harmony).
After sketching his face — spread out over nine canvases — she meticulously worked canvas by canvas to create a beautifully etched portrait in red, black and yellow thumbprints.
"How long did it take you to paint Tunku?" I ask. "You guess?" she asks back with a laugh, before replying that it took five days.
Eventually she added the portraits of Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Sambanthan as a nod towards their contribution along with Tunku in establishing independence.
BUDDING ARTIST
The three paintings of Malaysia's founding fathers take centre stage in her simple studio apartment located in a modest shoplot in Kajang.
The steady stream of midday sun floods the sparsely-decorated space with light. This is where she paints, she says adding that she lives in another apartment a floor above.
Canvasses of many sizes lie propped against her wall, while her paint materials are kept neatly tucked away in a little shelving unit.
"Those are spray-painted," she tells me, pointing to some of her artwork depicting landscape imagery. The other portraits that lie propped around her unit are done with acrylic.
Her passion for art is evident, and Vivian laughingly tells me that she adored the subject since she was a young child.
"At the age of six, I created my own comic book. I depicted my daily life in comics!" she gaily recounts adding that while her parents recognised her talent, they still insisted that she pursued something that could "pay the bills!"
The focus on academic excellence pushed her towards excelling in school.
"I was a straight-A student and eventually went on to pursue architecture on my eldest sister's advice," she shares. She admits to wanting to pursue photography but it wasn't something her parents wanted for her. "They were concerned that a career in photography wasn't going to be sufficient to support me."
In the pursuit of a degree in architecture and design, she was required to complete her foundation year in arts.
"Oh my God!" she exclaims, eyes sparkling as she recounts her first year.
"This opened a new world to me. I had exposure in all types of art mediums and it unlocked a passion that had long laid dormant."
She started doing caricatures and eventually opened a channel on YouTube, showcasing her caricature work using watercolours. NiuNiu Gallery was born. She put up her paintings online and soon had commissions from people to do caricatures.
"I did this while I was studying," she says, smiling. She eventually moved on to spray painting and acrylics.
"I discovered that I really loved art and continued to paint on the side throughout my studies and even when I started working," she says.
After completing her degree, Vivian worked as an interior designer. "I didn't enjoy it," she confesses. "I was stuck in front of a computer all day. Creatively, I wasn't growing."
On her friend's advice, Vivian resigned and decided to lecture on architecture while applying for a scholarship to pursue her Masters in Landscape Architecture.
Upon graduating from Leeds Beckett University in England, she was bonded to the same private university in Kuala Lumpur for four years as a lecturer. Her bond ends in October this year.
"What do you want to do after that?" I ask. "Paint!" she replies emphatically, chuckling heartily.
As she evolves as an artist, Vivian's latest foray is portrait painting. Just before creating the images of Malaysia's founding fathers, she did a portrait of the director-general of health, Tan Sri Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
She contacted the good doctor via social media and asked if she could present the painting as a token of her appreciation for his contribution during the pandemic.
Dr Noor Hisham acquiesced and graciously received the portrait she created in person.
"I was so happy that he was kind enough to meet me and spend half an hour of his busy schedule to talk to me," she enthuses.
While the world at large has become increasingly isolated and divisive, Vivian wants her portraits to remind Malaysians that solidarity is something we as a nation should strive to uphold.
"Whatever our other identities — Malay, Indian, Chinese, Sikh, Kadazan and others — we're still part of the same story," she insists.
I'm instantly reminded of what the late Tunku had quoted once: "We're all Malaysians. This is the bond that unites us. Let us always remember that unity is our fundamental strength as a people and as a nation."
As the three founding fathers smile at me from the propped canvases, I realise that the artist's hope of touching at least one Malaysian has already been realised.
Follow Vivian and her artistic journey at www.bit.ly/3bHsoQk.