Several of his sculptures are being displayed in Florida, said Alor Star-born Sirajudeen Kamal Batcha, 32, a former draughtsman who learned how to make the pencil-lead sculptures through YouTube videos.

“Art has always been my passion and when I started to learn pencil-lead sculpture in October last year, it was really difficult and a high level of patience is needed.”

A sculpture of Masjid Terapung took him a total of 212 hours.

So far, he has built more than 64 sculptures which have sold at prices from RM50 to RM4,000.

He hopes to build more sculptures based on Malaysia’s culture and heritage, to make Malaysia known for its uniqueness and expressed his hope that the government or related agencies could extend a helping hand to striving artists.

“We face a lot of discrimination from local art exhibitors because we do not come from Europe and our skin is dark. Local exhibitors always give priority to those who come from overseas, they do not recognise our contribution,” he said.

Sirajudeen also pointed out that graffiti artists in Malaysia were considered as vandals but that 10 Malaysian graffiti artists had been engaged by the Dubai government to transform the 18b Street of the Al Karama shopping district. The Malaysian artists have been in Dubai since June completing the project.

“The results were spectacular. The Dubai government paid for everything for them, but in Malaysia, their art is considered vandalism,” he said.