PHOTO ART EXHIBITION : ARTWORKS QR CODE #27

According to an interview with Eric Peris for this particular work, GPO stands for General Post Office, a building that has similar characteristic to the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, an iconic building in Malaya that was completed in 1907, it is among the few building in Kuala Lumpur that portrays a style of architecture akin to Indo Saracenic architecture.

In 1983, Eric had managed to snuck into the closed building to capture the building in his own way, as is, dimly lit save for the natural lights for one last time, perhaps as a key memory of the building as it appears naturally.In this print, Eric capture a dimly lit arch, naturally basked by sunlight, perhaps from a window or an opening, the rest of the structure appears dark and desolated.

At the time, the building was sealed and abandoned. During the time of the protest in 1983, in the same year Eric had went to the building and had notice one of the doors to be open and went inside. Inside the building was dark, save from a little light escaping through the windows of the abandoned building which illuminates one of the arches. Eric then decided to capture the view, deprived of any light source but the natural sunlight that had escaped into the boarded building.

In hindsight, the picture serves as a captivation of moment by Eric the photographer, signifying emotion that highlights the importance of heritage & the role of people to fight and preserve history embedded within cultural structures and art forms. During the moment the picture was captured, it was a subject on the brink of potential demolishment, which was only saved by the keen interest to protect heritage.

The building was eventually saved and is now a heritage site, housing part of offices of the Department National Heritage & Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Arts. The site is regarded as one of the iconic architectural heritages in Kuala Lumpur.