Penang Hill

Penang Hill (Bukit Bendera or Flagstaff Hill), the earliest British Hill Station in
Malaya, as its names suggest, had its beginnings in 1793 as a strategic vantage point
in a time of war. In later years, Penang Hill would become a place of rest, recreation
and refuge for colonial administrators, a place of exploration for nature enthusiasts
and fertile ground for agriculturalists optimising the cool climes of the hill to harvest
fresh produce.
Today, the landscape of the hill is dotted with a built heritage which spans 200 years.
It is alive with the stories of people of diverse backgrounds – people who maintain
their residences here, farmers, caretakers, small businesses, those that maintain
places of worship and those whose work is intertwined with the rhythms of running
the hill’s historic funicular railway. Many can trace their past to generations that
came before them. These stories which form the tapestry of life on the hill remain
largely untold. It is against this backdrop that our visual narrators have gone forth,
to seek and find, to keep for generations to come.