Such is Dato’ Chuah Thean Teng’s ingenuity that he did not keep to a staid formula of depicting rural life and work. Here, there’s a play of symmetry and rhythm, as the two kampung gals, back to viewer and shown like in a mirror image, are shown pounding the rice hulls of husks. The nice curvilinear patterns of the dresses are an added attraction but it’s the ball of golden dusts churned out by the constant poundings that is the cynosure, what with its symbolic quality. It is such romanticising of a menial task, given a contemporary feel, that marks Teng, as the artist is popularly called, as an artist of calibre in mind, spirit and skills. The light at the center also represents Hope (Harapan), a representation of people working together for the betterment of the country. Hailed by Professor Michael Sullivan as the ‘Father of Batik Painting’ (Chinese Art in the 20th Century, 1959), Dato’ Chuah Thean Teng was invited to showcase in the prestigious Commonwealth exhibition in London in 1977, to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee. The National Art Gallery gave him a Retrospective in 1965 and a Tribute in 2008, while Penang awarded him with the Dato’ title in 1998 and the Living Heritage status in 2005. Images of his works, Two Of A Kind and Tell You A Secret, were chosen for UNICEF’s greeting cards in 1968 and 1988 respectively.