date: november 2007
published in: the peak magazine
click here to view article in pdf format: sophie milman – pdf
this reminds me that i still haven’t get the pictures of milman’s jazz performance at CoChine in plaza mont kiara.
hints.
date: november 2007
published in: the peak magazine
to view the article in pdf format, click here: yeoh kean thai – pdf
remember my previous entry of how i ended up with drawings on my bandaged hand after the interview. well, here is the man himself. very down-to-earth and a pleasant person to talk to.
i also received an email from datin shalini, owner of the private gallery some time back. here’s what she wrote:
Dear Cheryl:
I have just read the article on Yeoh Kean Thai in this month’s Peak. Thank you very much. It is well written and informative. (Only one typo – 1990s instead of 1900’s – when he first began on the environmental themes!).
Have a wonderful Deepavali.
All the best.
erm… oppsie!
errors like this shouldn’t happen. might be just a slight typo, but it still changes the information altogether. 1900s and 1990s have many years in between.
my bad.
note to self: be more thorough in checking the next time.
this arrived in my inbox three days ago. but i only managed to check my email today.
it’s from steven lee, a malaysian photographer i interviewed about a month back. it’s lil greetings like this that makes me love my job even more.
a thought drop in my mind today.
if i was offered a better job, will i be able to bring myself to stop writing as a profession?
i thought i knew the answer. but now i’m not so sure anymore.
i know… i’m thinking a bit too much. dad always says, “cross that bridge only when you come to it.” i’ll heed his advice for now.
it’s emails like this that reminds me why writing puts a smile on my face. the sense of fulfilment and pride is indescribable.
sad to say, i did not manage to attend the exhibition. maybe next time…
Hi Cheryl,
I have just realised that I never did thank you for the wonderful article you put together in the PEAK magazine on my exhibition at TAKSU Gallery. You shaped the information I provided in response to your questions into a really nice piece, and I have had much positive feedback on it here.
Thank you again so much for taking the interest and time to put together such a thoughtful article. I do hope you had a chance to have a look at the exhibition during the time it was on show. Thanks again, and all the best with your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Troy
if you haven’t, do read the article here
since i needed some kind of distraction to distract myself from certain thoughts, i thought i might as well finish off this post which has been sitting inside my ‘draft’ since i-can’t-remember-when.
yupp, this post was suppose to be uploaded some time back but i never did it because it was unfinished at that time and i grew lazy to continue writing it after that. oh well, no point leaving a post (even if it is old news) half-typed, so here goes..
as i mentioned in my previous blog entry entitled ‘kaleidoscopic landscapes‘, after my morning interview at wei-ling’s gallery i had to rush off to conduct another interview at the kuala lumpur convention centre (klcc).
i was suppose to meet up with jay for lunch at about 12.45pm but since i only reached at about 1.20pm, lunch was not possible. nothing really exciting to share except that i felt like tourist when i laid foot at the convention centre for the first time. in fact, i think i have only walk around suria klcc shopping mall less than 10 times. had my not-so-yummy lunch which left me feeling sick after that, read through my list of questions that i had prepared and after that i did my interview.
i interviewed steven lee, a malaysian freelance photographer based in london and haliza hashim-doyle, a correspondent with tv3 who’s also based in uk. both steven and haliza was in town to launch steven’s second pictorial book about malaysia entitled ‘malaysians‘. the book is “a collection of portraits celebrating the diverse ethnicity of malaysia today, with accompanying text by uk journalist haliza hashim-doyle.”
the idea came about in 2005 when steven, an award-winning portrait photographer, noticed that there wasn’t any books in book stores in malaysia and in the uk that depicted the people of the country – the diversity of malaysians, which is a fascinating mix of races, its cultural heritage and it’s rich tradition.
in his new book, steven shares with us glimpses of the ‘malaysian’ identity – a vision of bangsa malaysia.
check out his blog site for more information on the event.
date: october 2007
published in: the peak magazine
you can also view the article in pdf format here: Troy Ruffels – pdf
leave a comment and let me know what you think, alright?
date: september 2007
published in: the peak magazine
view article in pdf format here: juhari said – pdf
my very first article for the peak.
*beams*
i’m still laughing hard at all the “ooo”s and “ahhh”s messages that i’ve been getting on my msn.
yeah, i met ‘tyra banks’ at the aya awards… *winks*
gosh, my side hurts from all the laughing.
anyhow, i went to blu inc. media today and finally collected the peak magazines! three issues (from sept-nov), a total of four articles altogether. i tried to look composed when i met my editor, but when i saw the mags in her hands i couldn’t help beaming from cheek to cheek.
i’ll post up the articles soon — let me go figure out how to use the scanner first. i seriously expected the articles to be heavily edited, but to my surprise it wasn’t. some parts did get edited, but that’s expected. i’m pretty much a confirmed contributing writer for the magazine now. such joy and relief. thank God!
*woots*
but all that excitement couldn’t top this one: i finally gotten the doctor’s letter from university hospital today.
this is the letter that i would need to show jpj to get my driving application approved. this is the letter which i need to show to tan chong motors so that they’ll know what sort of modifications i need for my car. this is the letter that would allow me to sign up for lessons at safety driving centre.
double joy!
now i really need to pray for a car and that i wouldn’t fail my driving test. else, all the excitement is as good as nothing.
i was back at wei-ling’s gallery again yesterday morning. yupp, i did my first assignment for the peak magazine there. i interviewed juhari said then.
i just realised that I didn’t post up anything about juhari said, troy ruffels and sophie milman yet.
note to self: do it soon!
anyway, i was assigned to interview choy chun wei this time.
choy, who hails from kuala lumpur, is actually a fast rising local artist in the contemporary arts scene as he has made a name for himself with his unmistakable collage works. his much-anticipated first solo exhibition ‘kaleidoscopic landscapes’ will feature his new works which are “a major shift from his earlier pieces which concentrated more upon layering of found materials, and less upon colour. [his] new works have expanded into another realm with the introduction of moving perspectives and multiple dimensions, coupled with the use of vivid colours and cut outs from glossy magazines to reflect the materialism of our urban environment.”
trappings by choy chun wei
medium: mixed media on canvas, 2007
183cm x 414cm
being there at wei-ling’s gallery again certainly brought memories. i remembered how tensed i was during my first interview, how i felt that my list of questions sounded dumb half way through my interview, how i felt dumb being there, how all those thoughts that i-wasn’t-suitable-for-the-job or that my-article-won’t-be-suitable-for-peak’s-readers etc. flooded my mind.
by the way, the peak magazine is actually an exclusive magazine available only through subscription — thus, the ‘additional’ pressure…
nevertheless, the worry was for nothing.
God’s awesome favour really prevailed through it all — even how i got this job is another testimony on its own.
it was truly a privilege to be able to go there again. both wei ling and farzeera (and the rest whom i haven’t gotten to really know yet) are just fantastic with their hospitality. the first time i was there i felt instantly welcome (but nervous). yesterday was no different except that i was less nervous lar.
and while i was there, guess who did i bumped into? juhari said!
he was there to collect back his artwork, which was really brilliant and one of a kind.
both he and wei-ling sounded more than please with the feature article that i wrote. after about two minutes into the conversation, i broke the news to them that i haven’t seen the printed version of the article yet.
yep, i’ve yet to collect my copies of the magazine from my editor. i don’t get a chance to see her often mar. another cons (or pros — depending how you look at it) of working as a freelancer.
wei ling was kind enough to lend me her copy of the magazine for me read.
sad but true, i only had enough time to flip through the pages, saw the heading, byline and standfirst and just caught a quick glimpse of the layout of the page along with a quick reading of the first paragraph of the article before hearing the honk of the taxi which was waiting for me outside.
i had to rush off for another interview at kl convention centre — which i will share about in another blog entry.
i’ve been waiting for so long to read my own article — since september till now.
sigh, so close and yet so far.
you tell me, geram or not!
i was out on an assignment for The Peak Magazine. here’s what the artist did to my arm after the interview:
my bandaged wrist, together with his artwork
he writes, “LINKS TO FAST RECOVERY — CHEERS, THAI”
anyhow, LINKS is actually Yeoh Kean Thai’s new series of artwork based on an underlying theme which is personal and close to his heart. his works, since the early 1990’s, has always been centred around “the process of the natural environment being disrupted, corrupted and manipulated by human development and urbanisation.”
hence LINKS is the continuation or ‘linkage’ from his early series; with a ’simpler’ aesthetic approach and a different manipulation of perspective while maintaining the heartbeat of his message.
do google him out! … or opt to wait for my article to be published in The Peak’s november issue …
