작품 상세

Kow Leong Kiang is known for his portrait studies of pre-adolescent girls in the kampung and beaches of Terengganu and Kelantan between 1999 to 2003. This latter work is filled with dollops of sentimentality as tears are shown welling out of the eyes of the girl in white baju Melayu amidst a whitish backdrop of water. Did she have a fall, is it impish tantrums or is she reflecting on something sad? She is too young to have a broken heart, maybe a broken toy. Crying ain’t that bad a thing. It can be cathartic. Meanwhile, listen to The Everly Brothers’ Crying In The Rain; Marianne Faithful’s As Tears Go By; Julie Covington’s Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina; and saddest of all, Eric Clapton’s Tears In Heaven, recalling the tragic death of his four-year-old son Conor. And do you know, as some say, that a mermaid has no tears?