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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 18h

Inktober D23 Firefly

Back in school I read the tale of how the firefly came about from an old Filipino legend. Alitaptap. A heartless princess with a bright shining star on the forehead who later finds herself as broken as the hearts she had left behind.

Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 1d

Inktober D22 Button

Which blouse doesn’t have buttons!

Did you all know the kebaya tops we know don’t actually come with buttons? They actually come with fasteners or brooches that are known as kerosangs / kerongsangs here.

#Inktober2025 #Inktober

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you so much! Hope you like em.

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 3d

Inktober D20 Rivals

From Snow White and Rose Red to Betty and Veronica, we have always had friends and rivals. Over here we have Bawang Merah Bawang Putih, sisters who are in opposition to each other.

#bawangmerahbawangputih #Inktober2025

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 4d

Inktober D19 Arctic

In our tropical nation with the endless summer days, chilled delights were a lovely respite.

And yes we had ice even way back in the days before refrigeration. Before that blocks of natural ice was cut out from frozen lakes and rivers and shipped in.

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 5d

Inktober D18 Deal

We talk about superhero origin stories and here’s one from this region as Badang makes a deal with the djinn who has been stealing from his fishing nets. A deal that grants him superpowers far more than a common man.

#Inktober2025 #inktober

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 6d

Inktober D17 Ornate

Couldn’t get more ornate than this spectacularly dressed Minangkabau lady with her textured songket attire along with her golden headdress! Not forgetting the armbands beautifully hammered and decorated called galang gadang.

#inktober #inktober2025ornate #inktober2025

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 7d

Inktober D15 Blunder

Is it a blunder? Ill fortune perhaps or something else.

This comes from an old Chinese story about an old man who loses his horse. Though it all turned out for the best in the end. Coming from the idiom 塞翁失馬，焉知非福.

#Inktober2025 #Inktober

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 8d

Inktober D15 Ragged

If i could have a favourite Chinese deity, this raggedy looking fellow would rank right up there. Zhong Kui #鍾馗 is a Taoist deity in Chinese mythology, traditionally regarded as a vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings.

#inktober2025 #inktober2025ragged

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 9d

Inktober D14 Trunk

Writing out the migration story of the kopitiam fellow as he makes his way down south to Nanyang. Trunk and all. As he lands at the ports of South East Asia. Obviously trunk is the prompt for today!

#inktober2025 #inktobertrunk
#inktoberday14 #inktober2025trunk

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 10d

#Inktober D13 Drink

Linked with my South East Asian theme the prompt of drink 🥤 , I could only think of the infamous Raja Bersiong legend from here.

More tales are spun of his bravery & intelligence - and subsequent encounter with a bayam dish tainted with human blood.

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 11d

Inktober D12 Shredded

Somehow shredded in my mind reminds me of lamian - the hand-pulled noodles made by stretching, twisting, and folding a wheat-flour dough to create long, thin strands. Or cutting. Or shredding. Or pulling.

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 12d

I was surprised to learn that prompt for @inktober for sting is swindle or exorbitantly overcharge! Which is what’s happening to the Nyonya here.

Or at least what she thinks is happening here. Though the cloth seller is saying no!

#nyonya #peranakan #bajunyonya #babanyonya

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 13d

Here’s Dayang Senandong happily singing through her chores. A lesser known tale of a princess who’s ‘cursed’ with dark skin and kicked out of her palace into a life of misery before.. well before a Prince rescues her.

And yes the prompt is #sweep

#Inktober2025 #Inktober

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 15d

Reckless indeed for a lady of her time!

But smuggling letters for prisoners of war in Changi Prison was only one of her accomplishments. Lim Beng Hong, or better known as B.H. Oon, was the first woman to be called to the Malayan Bar.

#inktober2025 #inktober

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 16d

He isn’t quite sure what to think of the new addition to the menu at his sotong bakar stall. Grilled squid 🦑 maybe but grilled starfish!

Not sure what to do with the starfish prompt though I’m sure Patrick from Spongebob would figure large on many.

#Inktober

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 17d

Mahsuri. A woman betrayed and scorned.

No deeper pierce than being wrongfully accused of adultery and executed with a stab through the heart. Only to be proven innocent as white blood gushed out.

#inktober2025 #inktoberpierce
#inktoberday6 #inktoberdaypierce

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 18d

It’s D5 for Inktober, the prompt is #deer.

Easy enough - and a bit of a segue to a mousedeer - since it’s linked to an origin story for Malacca. Of a runaway prince who rests under a tree only to admire the antics of our clever mousedeer.

#melaka #Inktober2025 #Inktober

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 20d

It’s her wedding day and our little Nyonya has a crown 👑 sitting pretty on her head.

For #inktober d3, Peranakan bridal attire features vibrant hues and intricate embellishments, replete with headgear and necklaces.

#inktober2025 #inktobercrown

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 21d

The prompt weave immediately brought to mind the pua kumbu.

The pua kumbu is a traditional hand woven warp ikat textile created and occasionally worn by the Ibans here in Borneo.

#dayak #inktober #inktober2025weave #dayakborneo #inktober2025

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 23d

It’s Inktober time and yes I’m following the official prompts @inktober ! Should be my 7th year doing this!

The prompt was mustache and I thought of the kueh seller with his amazingly manicured mustache, walking the streets with his freshly steamed kueh.

.

#inktober2025

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · 24d

Not a common sight but we used to have buskers called lang ting tang man.

These old storytellers wander around the streets telling stories, while strumming their banjo 🪕. Sometimes they also tell fortunes as customers pick the metal plates tied to the end of their banjo.

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · Sep 19

A while back at an exhibition placed in an old colonial hotel, I noted small little notebooks that turned out to be dance cards.

Simply put a dance card was used by women at formal dances from the 18th century to the 1930s to record the names of the gentlemen they planned to dance with!

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · Sep 16

Happy Malaysia Day! All thrills, spills and heels for Blossom Wong as she contends with malcontents during the celebrations!

With a particularly dashing helper this time from Borneo named Sigat!

#malaysiaday #HariMalaysia

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Paulitical @pauliticalart.bsky.social · Sep 12

Once a year, hell takes a break as the gates of hell swing wide open during the Ghost Month #鬼月.
So here’s the two guardians searching for places to holiday in! The Ox-Head #牛头 and the Horse-Face #马面, the two infamous guardians of the underworld!

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