I was born in 1973 in Kuala Lipis, Pahang, Malaysia and graduated as a Bachelor of Fine Art in 1999.

When I was growing up, we had no toys, no television. But every evening my mother or my great-grandmother told us stories.

They had both had a hard life. So the stories they told us were stories that would make us brave. My great-grandmother told us stories of the dreadful things that happened during the Second World War and the communist insurrection. They had left a terrible scar on her memory. By telling stories she bore witness to all that she and her family had suffered.

I didnt have an easy childhood. From the age of ten, as soon as school was over, I had to work to earn a little money. There was almost never time for play. My grandfather was a blacksmith, and most of my family can make blades. Its in the blood. So if ever we did play, it was with fire or with knives.

My parents always wanted us to make something of ourselves. To achieve something we could be proud of. Experience had taught them, as it has taught me, that life is a struggle, and we should never waste opportunities. Because we had all known poverty, they were not keen that I should be an artist as its such a precarious life, and success comes to so few. But for me painting is the greatest opportunity God has given me. Its my one gift.

Sometimes it feels as though all my life people have been telling me what to do. They always tell. Never listen. Thats why my first solo exhibition was called Let Me Speak. But my artworks are not just about me. They are for everyone whos ever known anger, frustration, confusion, waste, regret. For those who are in trouble. For anyone whos lost or never found their soul. For those who have lost their way.

I suppose you could say that my paintings are sinister. Yet basically their message is positive. As long as a man can put rice into his mouth, as long as he can feel the sunshine on his shoulders, life is to be prized.

hairi yaakub