GEORGE TOWN, Aug 1 — Indigo, turquoise, navy blue, sky blue... name any shade of blue and you can find an item of that shade in Mission Blue: The Indigo House at Mission House in Farquhar Street.
Visitors can catch a month-long showcase of artwork, textiles, ceramics and souvenirs in all shades of blue here.
Mission Blue is one of the many programmes lined up for the annual George Town Festival 2014 that kicks off today. Indigo also happens to be the theme colour for the festival.
An exhibition entitled “Indigo: The Blue That Binds” featuring textiles, artwork and jewellery will be a permanent feature at Mission Blue until the festival ends on August 31.
One of the exhibits is “My Indigo Life” by local artist, Regina Ibrahim, which is a collection of 12 acrylic-on-canvas artworks.
“Blue is a symbol of calmness, serenity, a way to unleash the sadness within but the blue in some of my work represents the butterflies of hope,” she said of her work at the launch of Mission Blue.
Next to her brilliant blue artworks is a display of intricate jewellery and accessories fashioned from ancient ceramic shards, all boasting gorgeous blue motifs.
The ceramic shards were artefacts recovered from a Portuguese merchant ship that sank off the east coast of Malaysia at around 1625 and Australian artefact jeweller Ben Rongen preserved these shards of ceramic by turning them into unique jewellery pieces.
Upstairs, it’s is a showcase of indigo textiles by Malaysian multi-media artist David Cheah titled “Self Edge.”
“Self Edge”, which is a word play of the fabric term ‘selvedge’ which refers to either the self-finished or the raw edge of fabrics, is an exhibition of an unconventional twist to the traditional batik using the oldest natural dye, indigo.
There is also a pop-up store selling batik clothing, souvenirs, decorative items and an eclectic mix of products in various shades of blue and indigo by fashion designers Mae Teeta fromThailand, Nita Kenzo from Galeri Batike Jawa, textile designer from Studio Naenna from Thailand and also some local artists.
Mission Blue is open to the public daily from 10am to 6pm except Mondays. Admission is free.
Find out more about GTF 2014 events at www.georgetownfestival.com.
