Pahang, 28 April 2008 - The last weekend saw a group of passionate sea-loving artists, marine science students and enthusiasts getting together in Tioman Island in conjunction with World Earth Day and International Year of the Reef celebrations, to perform a feat which created an entry in the Malaysia Book of Records for the World’s Longest Underwater Painting.

Organised by CoRAL Malaysia (Malaysian Coral Reef Conservation Society), a society whose mission is to increase public awareness on marine conservation issues, brought about 50 people from the National Art Gallery, Association of Artists of Various Resources’ (APAD) from Singapore, Marine Park, universities, divers and members of the media to congregate at Nazri’s Place, a resort located at Kampung Air Batang of Tioman from the 25 to 28 April 2008 in an attempt to paint the world’s longest painting, underwater.

The dives began the following day after a checkout dive the day before. Sketches were made in plus sizes by 24 artists, 11 from Malaysia and 13 from Singapore, using oil pastels in little mesh bags carried with them. Some astonishing sketches of barracudas and octopuses with schooling fish and branching corals lined the canvas, a specially sized canvas to withstand the elements of salt water. All materials used in this painting are non-toxic. It took 24 artists and three dives of about 45 minutes each dive to finish the canvas. A total of 56.4 metres were painted out of the 60 metre long canvas, creating an opportunity for an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records .

The painting will be brought back to Singapore for the submission and will be displayed in the gallery for a period of time before it comes back to Malaysia for exhibition.  

In 2004 Ajis Mohamed, Malaysia’s first underwater painter, led other national painters from the National Art Gallery of Malaysia to complete a 36.1 metre canvas on the seabed at a depth of 15.3 metres. This time around, he led the two nations to sketch and colourise a myriad of conception through the eyes of each creative individual.  

In the vision of creating awareness through record-breaking feats, the message of preserving our coral reef resonates in the vivid illustration of the beautiful heritage of Tioman. Much more than the spirit of Malaysians ‘can do,’ the feat was more about what Malaysians (with the combined effort of Singapore counterparts) ‘will do.’ It wasn’t another record to be the biggest, the nameliest, nor the best but it was to draw attention of the public to our corals in peril. A feat that got two countries together to create a masterpiece at such a length from the depth of their imagination was a feat worth of Guinness’ mention.

Sponsors and supporters made the event possible and they include the National Art Gallery of Malaysia, APAD Singapore (Association of Artists of Various Resources), University Malaysia Terengganu, UMNO, UMNO Youth, Metrobus, Marine Park of Malaysia, East Divers Tioman and Nazri’s Place.

East Divers’ Built The Underwater Foundation For The Artists

Preparations for the event began with a coordinated effort from the planners and the executers to lay conjoined wooden boards totalling 60 metres on the sandy sea bed just outside Nazri’s house reef. The boards served as the base for the rolled canvas to sit on and facilitated a foundation in which the artistic divers were to paint on. The support divers from East Divers Tioman of Kampung Tekek, were brilliant in constructing the base and ensuring the anchoring and joining of the boards underwater, making several dives per day in the run-up to the actual event. The experienced divers of East Divers had to devise ingenious ways to transport and anchor the boards while working against a mild current to minimise errors and the final layout was a straight line of boards 60 metres in length.

Sufian, the director of East Divers Tioman said, “It was sheer stress as we worked through the day to prepare for this event and having a great team helps. It doesn’t matter even if it’s painstaking prior to the event, what’s important is the message that it will carry with the finish artwork.”

Virtual Malaysia brings you these pieces of art through our underwater imagery and videos which will be uploaded soon.
 
Waste To Wealth

A programme by the artists to create artistic works from nature’s discards were taught to 100 school children from the Sekolah Kebangsaan Tekek in Tioman. Creating a need to recycle wastes, items such as copra from coconuts, branches, twigs, dried leaves, shells and rubber soles were used. Encouraging the kids to make something of nature into something which can be of commercial value was a part of the weekend’s programme.

Malaysian CoRal Reef Conservation Society

It is better known as CoRal Malaysia when it was formed in 2003 as a non-profit organisation dedicated to create public awareness through strategic thinking and unique programmes in order to help protect coral reef and its ecosystem.

CoRal Malaysia created an impact in the diving community when it received its first entry into the Malaysia Book of Record (MBoR) for the ‘Longest Underwater Painting’ in 2004.

The painting now is a national heritage at the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur.

Projects include hoisting a massive 20 metre national flag from underwater on Independence Day in 2006 and the construction of an ‘Underwater Gallery’ consisting of six replicas of Terengganu’s heritage on the sea bed of Bidung Island in November the same year.

CoRal Malaysia is actively promoting the Malaysian Chapter of International Year of Reef 2008 (IYOR 2008) with numerous fun and educational activities. For more information on how to join their events, please log on to www.coralmalaysia.com