GEORGE TOWN, Jan. 4 -- When Lithuanian-born artist Ernest Zacharevic painted his first mural of his neighbour on the wall of a shop along Armenian Street back in 2011, no one paid any attention to it.

Then, he submitted a proposal to produce a series of murals drawn from everyday life to then-George Town Festival (GTF) director Joe Sidek for the 2012 art festival and the latter immediately warmed to it.

What resulted was an experiment in public art that grew into a phenomenon where the murals have since become part of George Town's cultural identity while at the same time reshaping how people look at art.

Storytelling, not just art

According to Joe, when Zacharevic first came to him with the idea for the murals, he found it interestin...