Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
We all know that choosing to go into the arts can be a Malaysian parent’s worst nightmare. Many Malaysians are pushed towards careers in the STEM fields – if a kid wants to go into the arts, a legal career is an absolute must.
But what if, despite parental pressure, a Malaysian decides to go into the creative industry anyway? Besides the guarantee of a lower income, skills related to creativity are often exploited more heavily as well.
5 Malaysians share their thoughts and experiences on the underappreciation of Malaysian creatives:
1. Tim (musician)
There’s a serious lack of outreach happening with local creatives. I blame this on neo-colonialism. Malaysians are obsessed with Western creatives and have a problem with supporting local talent.
For example, many Malaysians are reluctant to pay RM40 for a local gig, but they’re willing to fork out hundreds just for an international concert. I recognise the difference in skills and technology between my two examples, but it’s a sad reflection of Western culture imperialism over us.
It’s not just the average Malaysian not supporting local creatives though, but also those who are higher up. More opportunities are given to creatives who are not from the country – like Ernest Zacharevich. He’s from Lithuania but it’s funny how his whole thing is Malaysian aesthetics in his art.
I think energy needs to be redirected towards local talent, definitely.
2. Gregory (writer)
There’s definitely this local mindset in which the labour of creatives is taken for granted. Maybe non-creatives think that taking good photos is just a matter of pressing a button? Who knows?
There was one time I was applying for the job of copywriting. Turned out they wanted a writer who could do design work as well. It’s pretty common now to have to multitask and be skilled in multiple creative fields if you want a job in the creative industry. It’s not enough to be a writer – you have to be able to write in multiple languages, have design skills, the ability to edit videos…
It’s pretty unhealthy how much locals don’t care about the local arts scene.
3. Rina (digital artist)
I work freelance and I post my work on my social media. There’s always the fear of my art being stolen, especially right now during the NFT craze.
People don’t have the practice of crediting artists. You see a lot of people using art as their profile pictures or whatever, but they don’t even know who made the art!
The sh*tty thing about working freelance is hearing “can you lower your rates?” Even friends and family will ask me for discounts. There’s this mentality that if you know someone, you can ask them for their “friend rate”. There are some times where I’ve given a friend or my brother art for free, but that’s out of my own free will.
I sort of understand that people always want their stuff to be cheaper so it’s more affordable, but when you’re commissioning an artist oftentimes their rates are actually much lower than they should be! Many artists undervalue themselves because they’re so used to being undervalued by other people.
And yeah, this is especially bad in Malaysia. Somehow, being an artist isn’t seen as a “real” job.
4. Melati (DJ)
Man, I don’t know where to even start. The worst gig I ever had was when I had negotiated a pay of RM200 and the owner tried to rip me off by saying he’ll only give me RM50. I don’t know how often this happens in other industries, but it happens a lot for DJs. Business owners really don’t understand the kind of value a good DJ has.
There was another time a club booked me; I told them I play house music and they acknowledged it. But when I turned up, they asked me to play hip hop! I refused to because a DJ who plays hip hop needs to have certain skills – which I lack because I play, you know, house music. Yet when I told them this, their reply was “but you DJ what! You can play anything!”
If you wanted nasi lemak, would you go to a bak kut teh shop? People still don’t seem to know that DJs have specialisations.
5. Chester (graffiti writer)
“Over the years as a graffiti writer, I’ve been looking around for opportunities to explore, express and experiment with my style of art with interested parties. However, there are a number of common obstacles usually faced.
“As someone who’s relatively unknown in the commercial industry for mural paintings, it’s difficult to break through without having some sort of recommendation from someone who’s already been involved for years. It’s completely understandable that clients would have an idea of what they’d like painted on their walls in their venues, but it’s usually the same themes/motifs and it definitely makes artists feel like their style is underappreciated.
“Pricing is also another issue. Again, completely understandable that everyone wants the cheapest option available, but comparing something that’s painted by hand painstakingly over days or sometimes weeks to complete versus something digitally printed onto a wall is vastly different. Yet clients use the price of the relatively cheap digital option to undervalue the appreciation of the artwork being produced by artists.
“I’ve also had experiences in corporate industries where designers were expected to produce multiple unique designs over a few days, and while this is regarded as “common practice”, it definitely made me feel that the design industry cared more about the designs produced than the well-being of the designers. Which was also odd at times because whenever I felt like I had produced something unique and would be appreciated, I was told that it was unacceptable because it didn’t “fit the brief”.
“Sidenote.. and this is just me ranting a bit la, but while I’m not fully immersed in the design industry, I have a strong feeling that the ones at the top making the decisions are either stuck and stagnant in the old ways of design, or they’re too afraid to be a bit bold and take the chance to change their ways to push the industry further.”
We can all agree that Malaysian creatives are really given the short end of the stick despite the artistic field they belong to
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a DJ, a graphic designer, a copywriter… Something you knew was that if you didn’t already come from money, it was going to be hard for you to ever expect a high level of income by entering the creative industry.
Creatives have traditionally been undervalued in any capitalist system, but it’s especially true here in Malaysia, where parents have a first and second choice in what they want you to be.
For more stories like this, read: Malaysians Are Obsessed With Success & Accomplishments – Here’s Why We Need To Acknowledge Failure Too, 10 Signs That Your New Malaysian Workplace Is Toxic & That You Should Get Out IMMEDIATELY, and 5 Toxic Traits That Exist In Malaysian Culture.
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