Exploring Malaysia is a unique experience, during your trip you cannot miss a stop in Penang and George Town with its incredible streets dedicated to murals and talented Street art artists.
When I got to Penang, one of the stops on my journey in Malaysia of this summer, I did not think I would lose my mind. With this post I would like to focus especially on the beautiful Street Art of Penang.
Penang is an island that extends along the northwest coast of Malaysia. It is a well-known tourist destination, famous, above all, for being the capital of good street food, the very famous Street Food of Penang that will leave even the most skeptical speechless.
George Town and Penang Street Art
What struck me the most, besides the good food, the kindness of the people and its nearby beauties, is definitely the city of George Town, inserted between UNESCO heritage sites.
I couldn't wait to go around this town, very famous for its street art and I assure you that my expectations have not been disappointed, indeed, honestly I would never have left.
A fascinating city
The streets of George Town have a unique charm, every street corner has a history and, for this reason, at the beginning of the main historic streets, there are plates that show the name of the street in various languages with a small summary of the origin of the street its meaning.
You will find many colonial buildings, shophouse, temples, in short, you will be amazed.
Penang Street Art Artists
Since when Georgetown was inserted between the Unesco World Heritage Sites, the municipality wanted to further enrich the town.
Precisely for this reason, in 2012, on the occasion of Georgetown Festival, commissioned the artist Ernest Zacharevic (Zachas), Lithuanian born in 1986, a few murals that told the habits and life of the inhabitants of Georgetown in various areas of the old city, such as Armenian Street, Muntri Street etc.
Subsequently, other artists like Tang Mun Kian, Baba Chuah e Julia Volchkova, they painted various works on the walls of the city.
But what is striking about the murals of Zachas it is the fact of having combined real objects with painting; this makes the work much more real and creates something unique.
The most famous works
Some of his most famous works are certainly:
Kids on Bicycle
Brother and Sister on a Swing
Boy on chair
Old Motorcycle
You will go crazy taking a thousand pictures, they are really beautiful.
In addition to these works, around the city, you will find many metal installations that tell, in a nice way, the social history of the city. These too were wanted by the municipality to embellish Georgetown.
Every corner of this city exudes history, happiness, you will feel like you are in a place apart, everything will seem different from the one you visited in Malaysia.
Art and atmosphere
It is wonderful to walk the streets of Georgetown, look for the murals (at the hotel they gave us a map with the various points where to find them), go into the shops, chat with people, go into a bar and drink a good coffee or taste a Durian dessert. Everything in this town feels magical.
Still on the subject of art, I advise you not to miss the Batik Painting Museum Penang; it is a small art gallery, which deals with painting Batik, typical Indonesian painting technique.
You will be fascinated by the beautiful paintings and, the very kind gentleman at the entrance, will make you fall in love with each painting and will explain to you in detail this fascinating and beautiful way of painting.
Trust me, it is absolutely an unmissable stop.
