It was 1949. Those were the halcyon days when Malaya was still frontier land, with little infrastructural development, what with the effects of the dreaded Japanese Occupation in 1941-1945. Life was tough, and pioneer artist Yong Mun Sen had used the chicken pair as a socio-economic poetic empathy of the people, the way China’s Xu Bei Hong depicted horses as a political metaphor during the Japanese Occupation of China. It was a time of reopening and rebuilding, and the people, as symbolised by the chickens here, were working hard to eke a living, foraging for bits of food in a sparse, even parched landscape. The ruffled feathers – what’s left – are most telling, of the hardship, what with the dull yellowed backdrop. This was also a time of the Malayan Emergency communist insurgency, though there was a spot of cheer when Malaya won her first Thomas Cup in London. But Malaya was not yet one as a nation, as Penang and Malacca were still a British Crown colony until the shouts of Merdeka on Aug 31, 1957. On the other hand, some viewers may interpret the chicken pairs as a symbol of true love, and faithful companionship. They look after each other, they work hard, making an honest living. Yong Mun Sen, nee Yen Lang, was dubbed the ‘Father of Malaysian Painting’ by pioneer artist historian Dato' Dr. Tan Chee Khuan. A fourth-generation Malayan, Mun Sen was also a pioneer photographer who started painting in watercolours in 1920s. He was given a Retrospective by the Penang State Art Gallery (PSAG) in 1999 and a posthumous exhibition in 1972, the same time as the National Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur. He was also accorded posthumous exhibitions in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur’s Galeri 11 in 1966. Mun Sen was also an art activist, co-founding the Penang Chinese Art Club in 1936 (president, 1937), the Singapore Society of Chinese Artists (vice-president, 1936) and the Penang Art Society in 1953, with his patron Loh Cheng Chuan as president. In 1922, he set up the Tai Koon Studio in Penang, which was renamed the Mun Sen Studio in 1930 with a branch in Northam Road the next year. He had solo exhibitions in London (Malayan Pavilion, British Industrial Fair, 1948), Tasmania (Australia), Singapore and Cleveland (United States).