"Labourer to Trader" Sculpture

Labourer To Trader Sculpture (7 January 2017)


Labourer to Trader (GPS: 5.41821, 100.33155) is a now removed iron-rod sculpture installed on the wall of Chowrasta Market, in George Town, Penang. It depicts two Indians. The figure on the left is carrying bricks while the one on the right carries delicacies, or kuih.

Originally facing the open market along Kuala Kangsar Road, the iron-rod sculpture was relocated to the side facing Chowrasta Road in late 2015, when the market building underwent restoration.

The brick-carrying figure represent Indian convicts who were brought into the newly established Prince of Wales Island as labourers who were instrumental in the construction of several historical buildings in Penang including Fort Cornwallis and the St George's Church. Those who won their freedom became itinerant hawkers, representing by the kuih-bearing figure. Do you notice which figure is smiling?

The caricature was drawn by local cartoonist Tang Mun Kian and depicted as a iron-rod sculpture by Sculpture at Work.

Labourer to Trader Sculpture, Chowrasta Market, George Town, Penang (30 June 2012)

The Labourer to Trader Sculpture is on the Map of Penang Street Art

List of Steel-Rod Sculptures by Tang Mun Kian, Marking George Town Sculptures and Penang Street Art