{"id":246881,"date":"2025-09-22T18:04:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T18:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/246881\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T18:04:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T18:04:21","slug":"20-years-of-living-with-schizophrenia-told-through-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/246881\/","title":{"rendered":"20 years of living with schizophrenia, told through art"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Artist Cheong Kiet Cheng beside her striking piece titled \u2018Me and the Wolf\u2019. (Theevya Ragu @ FMT Lifestyle)
\nKUALA LUMPUR: Cheong Kiet Cheng\u2019s seventh solo exhibition, \u201cBlue Bird\u201d, now running at Wei-Ling Gallery in Brickfields here, is a deeply personal look at her 20-year journey of living with schizophrenia.<\/p>\n

Featuring about seven large works, the exhibition traces her journey from the most difficult years to a more stable period of healing, growth, and motherhood.<\/p>\n

The title takes inspiration from Maurice Maeterlinck\u2019s play \u201cThe Blue Bird\u201d, in which two children go in search of happiness. Cheong reimagines the story as her own path of guiding her daughters towards safety and light.<\/p>\n

Cheong, 44, has lived with schizophrenia since her early 20s. The condition was particularly pronounced after the births of her daughters about 10 years ago but, thankfully, she found strength in art, treatment and meditation.<\/p>\n

Today, Cheong is well recognised in the art scene. She was the grand-prize winner of the UOB Painting of the Year (Malaysia) in 2018 \u2013 the same year she joined the UOB-Fukuoka Asian Art Museum\u2019s residency programme in Japan.<\/p>\n

One of the most striking works on display is \u201cMe and the Wolf\u201d. Using watercolour and some acrylics, it shows a woman standing across from a wolf on its hind legs. The woman is Cheong herself, while the wolf represents the mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the delusions, thoughts about the past and the future, just come and go. If one day we are eaten by the wolf, it would mean we have lost ourselves,\u201d the artist explained.<\/p>\n

\"\"Cheong recalls how she would often feel angry: an emotion depicted in \u2018You Are Me\u2019. (Theevya Ragu @ FMT Lifestyle)<\/p>\n

In the painting, the woman looks away from the wolf and towards the viewer. \u201cI\u2019m trying to convey that we should all live in the present,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Another key piece is \u201cYou Are Me\u201d, a watercolour-and-ink work showing two sides of herself: a large face with an angry red expression, and another calmer face in cooler tones.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to be a very angry person,\u201d she admitted. \u201cMy doctor told me that if I was constantly angry, I would never get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anger was not the only emotion she felt: at one point, she was so overcome with fear that she would lose her family \u2013 so much so that she could not even walk or talk.<\/p>\n

\u201cDream\u201d was painted when her daughter was very ill and her husband had lost his job. It shows a woman with several heads on one body, riding on a horse.<\/p>\n

The artwork depicts the chaos of struggling with too many thoughts at once. \u201cIn confusion, we lose our way and our head is actually our enemy,\u201d Cheong noted.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the horse represents her artistic skills, carrying her forward through the challenges. Cheong said she also found solace through meditation.<\/p>\n

\"\"In \u2018Dream\u2019, Cheong captures the chaos of struggling with many thoughts at once. (Wei-Ling Gallery pic)<\/p>\n

In \u201cTake Me to the Moon\u201d, a black-and-white ink drawing, she and her two daughters ride a wolf-led sledge towards the moon. Here, the wolf is no longer frightening but supportive.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome energy, some power helped me to be a good mother, to take care of my kids,\u201d she expressed. \u201cThis was when I learnt to cook for them, bathe them. It\u2019s almost like the wolf is the hand of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting further on her condition, Cheong shared that art has been a lifeline that helped ensure her mind did not \u201cgo everywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

Indeed, many of the works are pen-and-ink drawings made up of repeated lines and marks, which help her focus.<\/p>\n

Her process is unusual: in watercolour works, she begins by making random splashes on the canvas, then shapes them into animals or figures. In ink drawings, she always starts with the eyes and builds the rest around them through repeated strokes.<\/p>\n

And while she acknowledges there is no complete recovery, she is grateful that she now lives with more stability.<\/p>\n

\"\"The exhibition\u2019s centrepiece, \u2018Blue Bird\u2019, highlights the artist\u2019s experience of motherhood. (Theevya Ragu @ FMT Lifestyle)<\/p>\n

The centrepiece of the show is the titular \u201cBlue Bird\u201d, which shows Cheong as a bird shielding her daughters, their faces enclosed within her wings. Smoke enters her head and leaves through her mouth before transforming into a deer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe smoke is like all the thoughts that come from the universe, some negative \u2026 after meditation, it goes out transformed into good,\u201d Cheong said.<\/p>\n

She concluded: \u201cI actually believe that everybody is a blue bird, because everyone can confront their own problems and stay resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cheong Kiet Cheng\u2019s \u2018Blue Bird\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

When:<\/strong>
Until Sept 27<\/p>\n

Where:<\/strong>
Wei-Ling Gallery,
8 Jalan Scott, Brickfields,
50470, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n

For more information, visit Wei-Ling Gallery\u2019s website<\/a>, or follow her on Facebook<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n