By Herald Malaysia
Aug 7 2021
THE painting of Mother Mary in a traditional Kadazan Papar dress by a SYD-5 participant has attracted the attention of many, including bishops and religious.
Many have asked who this talented digital artist is. The digital depiction of Mother Mary and Jesus in traditional Kadazan Papar attire is the work of Eva Glen Robert (pic), a Year 3 mechanical engineering student at UiTM Shah Alam, who spent seven hours on it.
Eva, from St Michael Penampang Parish, is active in campus ministry and was also a missionary student in the group Malacca Johore Catholics On Campus, which brought her into rural areas such as Belaga, Sarawak, Pensiangan and Paitan Mission in Sabah.
The former MRSM Kota Kinabalu student said this was the first time that she had participated in SYD-5. She was invited to be a facilitator in the sharing session Heart to Heart. Eva admitted she was going through stress and depression even while producing this digital painting of Mother Mary.
On the very day that SYD-5 started, Eva finished her semester exam and was also coordinating a sharing group in SYD-5. She felt depressed because she felt she had not done well in her exams.
After the session, Eva was inspired by a painting of Mother Mary in Sarawak ethnic dress painted by a Sarawak youth. While I was painting this picture, the song Maria Tina Za do Koupusan (Maria, our beloved Mother) came to me. I prayed to God to give me the strength and inspiration to finish the painting. The difficult part was the siung (a triangularshaped hat with a weaving pattern/ the traditional female headdress of the Kadazan tribe from Papar district in Sabah). “Through this painting, God has turned my sadness and disappointment into joy!”, she declared. — Herald Malaysia
