From January 15th to January 23rd, a special art exhibition, the "Xin Horizon" Heart Youth Group Exhibition, will be held at the Guangzhou Art Museum, exhibiting the independent works of autistic youth who have undergone a long period of art training, as well as the paintings created by ordinary young designers and artists with special needs (including mental disabilities, physical disabilities, hearing impairments, etc.) with artistic potential, and the cultural and creative derivatives designed from them - this is the first exhibition of the "100 Enterprises and Hundred Arts" public welfare project of the Guangzhou Disabled Persons' Federation.
"Presenting the first co-creation is to show the artistic potential of the participants and to show the feasibility of the project." The project leader said, "I hope that young people with special needs can be seen, recognized and appreciated." Hopefully, their artistic potential can be translated into income. I also hope that there will be more forces to jointly promote this exploration to go further. ”
Wang Xiajing", "Dream" (co-creator: Liu Shengzhi)
"100 Enterprises and 100 Arts" supports people with special needs to generate income through art
"I have a lot of stories in my paintings."
"I want to draw better and get people to recognize me."
"I dream of being a cartoonist or an illustrator."
"I love to draw, I paint very well, and I hope to make money with it."
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Art is like a warm wool felt, bringing warmth and security to friends with special needs (special needs, including people with disabilities). Art is the most beautiful language, so that special needs friends can "speak freely". Art gives them courage and confidence. But art doesn't just exist for inspiration. How to make art a means for disabled friends with artistic potential to become independent and self-reliant and integrate into society?
Supporting people with disabilities to use art to generate income is the original intention of the "100 Enterprises and 100 Arts" public welfare project.
Yan Leping, "Music City" (co-creator: Li Yuxin)
On the 2021 National Day of Assisting the Disabled, the Guangzhou Disabled Persons' Federation launched the "100 Enterprises and Hundred Arts" public welfare project, which aims to widely link social resources, build a city-wide platform with the Municipal Disabled Persons' Federation, serve the whole city, and lead special needs creators with artistic potential to create market-competitive works and provide systematic support courses through the professional support and collaboration of artists, designers and other people. A number of sustainable cooperation projects have been promoted to generate income for people with disabilities.
Yang Shangxi,"Morning Tea by the Window" (co-author: Li Ying)
The "Xin Vision" Heart Youth Group Exhibition is the first phase of the "100 Enterprises and 100 Arts" public welfare project, which is supported by the Guangzhou Museum of Art, the School of Visual Arts and Design of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, the Guangzhou Artists Association, the Guangdong Young Artists Association and other parties. The exhibition has two parts, one part is a group exhibition of independent works by five young people with autism, and the other part is the paintings created by young designer students and young creators with special needs and the cultural and creative derivatives designed from them.
With the support of many parties in the society, "100 Enterprises and 100 Arts" and the School of Visual Arts and Design of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, volunteer teacher Dai Xiuzhen led 14 volunteer students to create 20 paintings with 14 young artists with special needs in a one-on-one pairing manner, which lasted for nearly two months, and designed them, and finally formed a sample of cultural and creative products. Provide the city's disabled cultural creation groups with actual cultural and creative samples for external promotion and link cooperation templates.
Zhong Yuqi "Star Painter" (co-creator: Cao Binghui)
Get to know them through their artwork and explore yourself
"In the process of co-creation, I can feel that he is improving and growing."
"When he paints, his mind is very clear, and I think my role is not 'guide', but 'assistant'."
"Art healed him, and so did his special experience."
"The world they see is as colorful as we are."
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"Xin Horizon" is both the "heart" of the "heart" and the "new" of the "new".
"We often think that what we see is everything, but in fact, different eyes see different things. If you use other people's eyes, will you see a more wonderful world? The project leader said that this group of special needs creators is a group of interesting friends, they may face different obstacles, mental disorders, hearing impairments, limb impairments... But what they have in common is that they are willing and able to use their paintbrushes to describe for us what they see, hear, and feel, "their world is simple, pure, and interesting." Those bold colors, sensitive lines, and unconventional whimsy have built a whole new world that fascinates us. Through their paintings, we can tap into their hearts and begin to explore ourselves. ”
"The whole work process is a process of mutual stimulation, our students strive to stimulate the creative ideas and artistic expression of the students with special needs through various ways, and the students with special needs also use their way to stimulate the wisdom of the students of the Academy of Fine Arts in communicating with others." Dai Xiuzhen said. After going through this project, her feelings are "giving people roses, the heart is fragrant", "we are actually the beneficiaries, and we get a lot of spiritual nourishment." We try to put our minds at ease, reconnect with the people and things around us, feel the power of silence, learn humility and integration, have good intentions, strive to spread goodwill, and re-see our own value and the value of others in practice. ”
She believes that the project has enhanced mutual understanding between volunteer teachers and students and special needs youth, stimulated some artistic potential that special needs youth did not know before, and most importantly, through the transformation of design, opened up another income-generating path for them outside of difficult employment, and can make it a sustainable way through exploration.
Text/Guangzhou Daily, Xinhuacheng Reporter: Lin Lin, Su Zan, Jia Zheng
Photo / Guangzhou Daily, Xinhuacheng Reporter: Jia Zheng Correspondent: Ouyang Red Light
Guangzhou Daily Xinhuacheng Editor: Zhao Xiaoman