STREET ART OF PENANG

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Penang Island | Street Art


" If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission "

- Street Artist, Eddie Colla -

One of the main tourism attractions in Penang Island is the amazing Street Art of Penang. Mostly based in the heart of Georgetown Heritage Zone, there are more than 10 Street Arts where you can find it on the wall between buildings, inside the buildings and other places which you can take the photos without any payment. Its free but you need to find it. There's a trick where you can find all those Street Art without missing any, just keep reading. This Street Arts are unique somehow because it is a combination between the Graffiti and the surrounding itself to create the masterpiece. Its an interesting idea to start with, and people starting to love graffiti. Before this, graffiti considered as Public Vandalisme, but with the right way, its now one of the tourism attractions. Some of the Street Art was made by a great artist Ernest Zacharevic ( http://www.ernestzacharevic.com/ ) starting 2012 till now. Each year there will be a new Street Art made by him. As a photographer, why don't we made it as a Street Art Portfolio collection around the world. For your information, he did the Street Art at other countries too such as Poland, Lisbon, Singapore, LA, Ipoh (Malaysia), Singapore and a lot more. You can see it at his website.

Here's the trick. If you're travelling to Penang for this Street Art, its better for you to have a Penang Street Art Map which you can get it through Google. Based on my personal experience, without the map, you'll end up lost in the middle of the Georgetown and you can't get to see see/snap photos of all the Street Arts. What about the local? Can we ask them where's the Street Art? Believe me, they don't know. Its better to walk or rent a bicycle and don't use the taxi service. Trust me. I paid the taxi RM15 for a short distance about 500m.

© 2015 Hasif Rahman - Street Art Penang Map | travel2penang.wordpress.com

Here's one of the maps which you can get at travel2penang.wordpress.com and there's more maps for others Street Art. The Street Arts are quite far from each other. Its walking distance but its not that near which I said before, its better to rent a bicycle. I managed to get 5 from all the Street Arts. I never expect it will be that far, and the weather was so hot. If I'm travelling alone, maybe I can snap all the Street Arts in one whole day by just walking, but with my lovely wife pregnant at that time, I need to cut it short. Well, there's always a second time. I'll travel to Penang again one day to snap new Street Arts made by Ernest Zacharevic.

Some advise for those who wants to make the Street Art as your portfolio :-

• Travel Light and wear a proper clothes
• Use a wide lens. There are Street Arts at a narrow lane. 50mm is not that wide even with a full frame.
• Rent a bicycle
• Get the Street Art Penang Maps 
• If you're travelling alone, bring along a Go Pro/SJcam or any type of action camera for selfie photos. Its wide enough for you and the street arts in one frame. For safety precaution, tripod is not recomended
• Start early in the morning at 7.30 to 8.00 a.m for better photos in terms of lighting plus to avoid lots of other tourist in frame unless you're doing a Street Photography

Start the journey now. The Street Art will never be there forever. The paint fades by year. The photos that you take will be a history someday. Those in Klang Valley, you can try the Street Art at Laman Seni, Seksyen 7 Shah Alam. Its pretty cool ! You can read about it by clicking this link Laman Seni . I've posted about it before this and will post it about it more later with more photos.

Till then..

Some of the photos taken by me, Street Art Penang.