Now older, children who inspired iconic Penang murals 12 years ago reunite with artist

Mr. Zacharevic, who was part of the group, had brought a red bicycle.

The kids liked the adult size bike and although it was too big for them, that didn’t stop them from getting on it.

“We saw the bike and thought it would be fun to get on it. I vaguely remember thinking how we could ride it and if we could go fast. We were playing and laughing,” Tan Yi said.

Tan Kern, now 15, said Zacharevic took a photo of them, which became the source of the famous mural.

“It was a candid shot,” the teenager added.

In both the image and the mural, Tan Kern is a passenger and hugs his sister tightly, with his eyes closed and his mouth open with emotion, while the legs of a smiling Tan Yi dangle over the pedals.

The brothers’ father, Adrian Tan, said Zacharevic told him he wanted to paint the children as part of his series of murals on the streets of Penang.

“I said ‘why not.’ It resonates with all of us – this pure innocence, which is why the mural is so popular with people,” Mr Tan said.