BALI
A Legacy

"Men wander within my body, their senses are
overwhelmed by me…
They move not according to their own will,
but they are moved by me."

— Mahabharata, Vana Prana (CIXXXIV)

True art inspires artists, but meeting “art alive” may change a man. This is what happened to Chang Fee Ming in Bali. Seeing Lee Man Fong’s beautiful images of the island, he decided that he too, had to visit Bali. At first, when he arrived in 1985 in the village of Ubud, he received the shock of the sights. The vegetation, all nuances of emerald and jade strewn with white and red blossoms, the arranged gardens around the temples and houses…Suddenly, the scenery was shrouded in heavy curtains of rain. Dogs barked mournfully. Then the rain stopped and the beauty was given back. “I almost went crazy,” said Fee Ming. “I painted everyday.”

Paradise Interrupted

The gardens were the openings for the magnificence of nature’s performance in Bali— a performance in which the Balinese people played an essential part. Sunsets and sunrises were as enchanting as in Terengganu, but lasted longer. The incandescent light fell more obliquely on the mirror of the padi fields, in the valleys and on the slopes of the half asleep volcanoes. A latecomer to the “island blessed by the Gods”, Fee Ming knew that the paradise had been rather intermittent. Bali had not been spared the tragedies of an unstable geographic position. The last stretch of land west of the “Wallace Line”, at the edge of tectonic plates, is often the victim of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. It had also repeatedly received the culture and religion of Java, from the 7th century Sailendra Buddhism of Borobudur fame to Hinduism with its many divinities. In the 16th century, Islam?overtook Java and the island of Bali became the last refuge of the Javanese Hindu king and of his numerous retinues of princes, priests and artists.