Asvoria K. is an ordinary human from Malaysia. Her family stayed in a cramped, rented a room in the water village of Kampung Air at Kota Kinabalu. Yes, that was the infamous slump polluted by rubbish and infested by drug traffickers. The place no longer exist today, thank god!
Born with a modest talent for drawing, she won multiple prizes in art competitions since her very young age. That includes a public competition for young children and in her primary school. One day, to her delight, she won first prize in an art competition and received a brand new Lego toy set. Happily, she brought the set back to her home. However, her happiness quickly turned to disbelief when the landlord accused her of stealing that toy from their son. Afterall, Lego was a luxury her parents couldn’t afford.
Fearing that she might fall into the path of a thief, worry filled her parents. “Children who learn piano will not become bad” people told her mom. And therefore, her parents toiled tirelessly to afford her piano lessons. Yet, she didn’t endure. Once the complimentary lessons concluded, the fees surged to an unattainable level for her parents. They direly needed somebody to look after their daughter while they were working in the Kalamunsing building. Thus, they entrusted their daughter to the drawing instructor, who generously charged only RM10 per month for her to simply sit in the class.
With each passing day, Asvoria’s passion for art deepened, fuelling her creativity and drive. She drew comics and illustrations. When the computer came to the market, she began creating her digital art using Paint application. And then, when scanners came out, she would draw and select the best line-art and send it to the shop and paid RM1 for an art piece to be scanned.
Soon, her parents began to worry about her deep passion for art. After all, pursuing a career in art rarely guarantees a stable income. Thus, for her own survival, she gave up making art, plunging herself into a technical path, getting a college degree, graduating with a master’s, landed a well-payed job, getting into a relationship, and then breaking up and being single again, and then mourning for the dead of her ex…
Finally, after over two decades of hiatus, she summoned the courage to create once more. But now, she found herself confronted with an imposing obstacle - the machine looming before her: AI.
Knowing the fact that technology was an unstoppable force and her dream of becoming a story creator might remain unfulfilled in the future world weighed heavily on her. She poured all her strength, dedicated herself to writing a book and bringing to life the vibrant imagery that had been kept to her thoughts for over 20 years.
If she doesn’t do it now, she won’t be able to do it in the future, for the machines could have drowned her audience with images and stories and her art will be forever and never be read and seen.
