Abstract
In this article, a model of a significant function for art education in multiracial and multicultural societies was presented as ‘the visualisation of ethnicity and creation of national art culture’. Almost all Asian countries include various multiracial and multicultural societies, and people acquire their identities in both meanings of ethnicity and nationality, especially in Southeast Asia. Although the way to treat the balance between the ethnic cultures depends on the countries’ policies, this study revealed that ethnic cultural values have been nurtured in school education through the function of art education, which stimulates people’s perceptions, visually and haptically, in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The study confirms that art education has functioned to create ‘national art’, which has spread a sense of national identity as well as ethnic identity in these three countries.
