The street art of George Town, Malaysia

When you walk through the old town of George Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the first thing you notice are the ‘murals’. Maybe that’s too grand a word but I find it fitting for a couple of these ‘paintings’. The street art in George Town is amazing and deserves one’s admiration. It’s definitely more than graffiti, there is something very arty about it.

A lot has to do with the Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic who burst on the scene during the George Town Festival in 2012. For this he painted eight murals which garnered a lot of praise and Instagram presence. Suddenly everyone wanted to have its picture taken in front of them. Funnily enough, the murals from previous years never created such a rave.

But in the end what does it matter. What’s important here is that he paved the way for other artists. Becasue there are a lot more murals in the city than just his eight. And, let’s not forget George Town also has the Public Arts Review Panel (PARP). So this panel is checking if new murals are up to their standard (at least I hope it’s only this). In any case, the murals are worth your time and I enjoyed discovering them while strolling through George Town. Yours, Pollybert