Echoes of a Drowned Artery – Gan Sze Hooi

Gan Sze Hooi
152.5 x 101.5cm
Oil on Canvas
2023

The painting reflects the silent disappearance of history as urbanization reshapes the landscape. Inspired by the submerged town and the lost heritage of Hulu Langat Batu 14, it symbolizes the gradual erosion of cultural identity and the irreversible effects of environmental change. The rising waters mirror the fate of old villages swallowed by modern development, where once-thriving tin mining communities and historic structures now fade into obscurity.
This work explores the tension between memory and progress, highlighting the struggle of past generations whose stories, like the currents of the Langat River, are slowly being washed away.