7 May 2020 / 11.25pm
One evening, after work, I went to Starbuck at Sunway Pyramid. I sat down, enjoying my ice blended green tea while looking around and checking my Facebook. Somehow, something stirred up in my heart. People are getting more racist nowadays.
I asked my myself, "Am I Racist?"
I reflected upon my own life…
Then, I took out my MacBook to compile all my thoughts. That evening, I completed a poster.
I do not want to stir up unwanted social attention to this sensitive issue. Yet, it troubled my heart deeply.
So…
About a year later, in 2016, I submitted this poster to Golden Bee, Moscow, Russia.
The Golden Bee is considered to be one of the best Graphic Design competitions in the world and during the 12th edition in 2016, they received an astonishing 15,710 posters from 80 countries from all around the world of which only 672 posters were selected for the exhibition and book.
I Praise God for this opportunity to be one of the selected. Once again, I represented my country, Malaysia.
Here is the sharing of my thought during that evening at Starbuck.
There is not a single sector in our society, which racism has not affected. Racism will continue to be a problem as long as we refuse or fail to acknowledge that we have only one race - the human race.
Racism stems from the sinful notion that some colours are better than others. And in this poster, colours are used to represent different races, from the white box all the way to black.
The background colour of each box has different percentage of black. The plus sign made out of a horizontal white line and a vertical black line, is most visible in a 50-percent shade of black (also known as the perfect grey). In this balance, these two lines are most visible without compromising each other.
Each box differs in its background colour from the adjacent box of the same row, by only 0.99 percent. Yet, if we look at the adjacent boxes, they appear the same to the naked eye.
Likewise, although we may behave in a non-racist way, we may be blind to the 0.99 percent difference from the perfect grey. This 0.99-percent may be marked by an unwarranted feeling of discomfort and distrust to others of a different race. Perhaps, it is time to honestly examine our hearts to see if racism is embedded in the deepest crevices.
Are you racist?
A question worth for us to reflect!
Each time, I look at this poster, I still couldn't find the "perfect balance." Even though, I am so close to it, yet I am still 0.99 percent racist.
"The reflection of chaos is creativity." - Lionel Suggs
I hope this sharing can encourage everyone to seize the opportunity in all circumstance with the right attitude to create.
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