In this emotive topography in the melancholy saga of Payarama, the affinity and tension between Man and Nature is brought into greater focus with the jostle for dominance between a red curdled in slightly softer hues and raw white strokes. While the white and red signifies is unclear, the pulled vertical stance does act as a balance, a harmonious diluting force in an otherwise maelstrom. Whatever the vagaries of weather, alluding to the divine or not, Man will always work with or even against the opposing forces, in order to find succour and livelihood. But the faith in oneself is also intertwined with seeking some divine assistance to make the labour easier to handle, if not successful. Payarama is Awang Damit Ahmad’s series that made people sit up and started looking back at all his series right to his first important works, Essence Of Culture (E.O.C), first shown in his solo at Shenn’s Fine Art in Singapore in 1994. In December 2014, he held his latest Payarama solo, Dari Iraga Ke Payarama at the Segaris Art Centre, MAP Publika, Kuala Lumpur. Awang Damit Ahmad is credited to have started one of the most compelling new abstracts related to land, region, purpose and people. A relative late starter in art at the age of 27, he first studied at the Mara Institute of Technology, where he was Best Student, before getting his Masters at the Catholic University in Washington DC (1989-1990). He catapulted into top-artist status when he not only won the 1st Prize but also the Consolation Prize in the hugely coveted Salon Malaysia III at the National Art Gallery. It was for his Nyanyian Petani Gunung (now in the Petronas collection). He also won 2nd Prize in the Malaysian Bank Association art competition in 1988. His international exhibitions include the Contemporary Paintings Of Malaysia at the Asia-Pacific Museum in Pasadena, Los Angeles, in 1988. He also excelled as lecturer at Universiti ITM until May 2011, when he retired to go fulltime into Art.