PETALING JAYA, June 2 — Long before neighbourhood malls and grocery delivery apps gained traction, traditional wet markets flourished as the heartbeat of local communities.
Back then, tagging along with parents to market trips was a weekly ritual that most children looked forward to.
Routine bargaining would ensue between patrons and vendors over spreads of fresh greens and freshly caught seafood, while the sound of people chatting would fill the breakfast stalls at the corner.
Though wet markets still exist today, they are frequented by fewer, less enthusiastic patrons.
But visual artist Ryzalman Misran keeps the nostalgia alive in his vivid paintings of wet markets, especially the seafood section.
The 50-year-old artist’s first solo exhibition, Berapa Sekilo?: The Rhythm of the Wet Market, at AweGallery in Petaling Jaya, features some 30 paintings depicting wet market seafood scenes.
The sights, smells and sounds of wet markets remind Ryzalman of his home in Simpang Renggam, Johor, and fishing trips with his brothers at the nearby Kampung Batu Enam river.
During holidays, the boys would go angling for ikan selangat in the river and gather edible ferns (paku-pakis) nearby before heading home.
“Whenever we returned home, my mother would be very delighted because there would be a complete set for us,” Ryzalman, the ninth of ten siblings, told Malay Mail.
“Fried ikan selangat, ferns for ulam, together with some rice and sambal belacan makes a great meal. Ikan selangat was also my late father’s favourite.
“So, for me, seafood and wet markets represent elements of love because my mother would buy the ingredients from the market to cook for the family,” he added, pointing to his Ikan Putih Paku Pakis masterpiece that depicts his childhood memory.
Ryzalman said deepening of the river to curb flooding has changed the overall landscape over the years, but the memories continue to drive his creative work.
Making his “killer album”
Like most visual artists, Ryzalman started by painting scenic natural landscapes, but the graphic design graduate from UiTM decided to focus only on seafood since 2019.
“Deep down, I just felt I had to do something. Just like a singer wants to create a killer album, I wanted to do something similar — and that’s how this solo exhibition happened,” he said.
Ryzalman visited several wet markets across the country and spent hours taking pictures of various scenes — from baskets of cockles to fish lying on wet floors and people carrying plastic bags filled with fish and vegetables.
In those seemingly mundane moments, Ryzalman saw subtle art forms that go unappreciated in the daily grind and recreated them on canvas.
Ryzalman drew most of his inspiration from frequent visits to Pasar Basah Pasir Penambang in Kuala Selangor and Pantai Leka near Muar.
His seafood-inspired artwork caught the eye of AweGallery founder Dora Ong in 2024, who even commissioned a painting of freshly caught prawns.
For Ong, the painting reminds her of how her mother used to indulge her with prawn-based meals during birthday celebrations.
A similar sense of nostalgia also swept through visitors of the exhibition, with many bringing their parents, who once worked as fishermen and fishmongers, to view the art collection.
“Some people also joked that the price tags of the prawns and squid in my paintings are too cheap, but you can still get that rate outside KL,” he said, adding that he wants to expand his collection by zooming into other lesser-noticed aspects of wet markets.
Berapa Sekilo?: The Rhythm of the Wet Market will run until June 8 at AweGallery in Taman Paramount, Petaling Jaya.
