Penang - Witty Heritage Sculptures Around Georgetown

I read about these witty heritage sculptures from the newspapers some time back and was immediately intrigued by it. I mean, how brilliant is it, creating sculptures and graffiti arts that tell about local folklores and tales, giving tourists a better understanding about the past in an informative yet hilarious manner? This is truly money well spent by the government as it promotes the art and heritage at the same time.

According to the article, so far, the company, Sculpture At Work, had already installed three of these artworks around Georgetown and more will come by June this year and all will be done by the first half of 2013. These caricatures are placed at strategic locations that tell stories about the places and also beautifying the city, in a manner of speaking.

So, when I did my solo walk tour (read about it here and here), I was constantly searching for those sculptures. I knew the location to one of them as I saw it before once while having supper there but the other two were a mystery to me.

Located near Love Lane

This caricature of a panic-stricken man climbing out of a window can be found by the wall of a building on Love Lane. It fed on the old tale of how Love Lane got its name. According to the tale, most of the buildings along this street were used as housing grounds for the mistresses of the rich Chinese men. Hence, you can understand why the man was climbing his way out of the trouble.

Market Lane

As for this sculpture, it was pure luck that I found it as my priority at that time was to locate the hidden Kopi Cine. After I had finished with my affair with Kopi Cine, I was moving along with my exploration where I bumped into this piece of art. Simply cannot believe my luck. This sculpture depicted an Indian man climbing a tree, thinking it was coconut tree, only to realise that it was pokok pinang (betelnut tree) once on top of it. The flowers of the coconut palm are the main ingredient in making toddy or palm wine, a typical Indian alcoholic beverage. To further strengthen the point, it was placed outside a toddy shop.

I did not manage to find the remaining one that was located somewhere along Transfer Lane according to the article and had no idea what it looks like. I'm extremely curious about it and will definitely have another walking tour soon.

For more information about the project and the company, go to their website here and have a look.