Sichuan spirit unshaken in art
Deepika Shetty
The Straits Times
Publication Date : 31-07-2008




The painting Canna In The Mountains may look cheery with its pink, green and blue hues, but it holds a message that is a lot more sombre.
It is painted by Chen Shiyi, an 11-year-old who survived the earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province in May and claimed close to 70,000 lives.
Shiyi, an avid painter since she was nine, drew this picture last month to remind herself of what her home town looked like before the quake.
Now her painting, together with 100 paintings and sketches by other earthquake survivors and professional artists from Sichuan, will be put up for auction and sale here.
To be held at the Yisulang Art Gallery in Handy Road from tomorrow (Aug 1) to Sunday, the event aims to raise S$500,000 (US$365,416) in aid of the quake survivors.
The exhibition will also feature seven drawings done by nine-year-old He Zhifu, a student who was crushed to death by falling rubble.
Most of the artworks on show were scouted by CityCare, a non-profit charity organisation. Its volunteers first visited Sichuan in May and came up with the idea of holding an art charity event. To do this, they teamed up with the Sichuan Foundation For Poverty Alleviation to source the artwork.
Says CityCare's director Victor Lim: "What we wanted to do with this art show is to showcase the resilience of the human spirit. We wanted to highlight how the people of Sichuan themselves came to terms with this adversity."
Shiyi was caught under the rubble of her school, White Town Centre School in Deyang county, for six hours before she was pulled out by her teachers.
While she sustained a head injury and several bruises on her body, she lost 150 teachers and students from her school, as well as an aunt and cousin whom she was very close to.
In an e-mail interview with The Straits Times, she says: "My home town was a place where fresh flowers blossomed. I hold my home dear to my heart. I feel a lot of love for this place and I am trying to express that love through my pencils."
Other poignant works on display include Memorial By Flower by Cheng Zewen, vice-president of the Yibin Cuiping Chinese Calligraphy and Paintings Institute.
The painting depicts books and a chrysanthemum, which stand for hope in the midst of the destruction in Sichuan.
Another notable work is Seizing The Moment by Liu Kai, an artist who teaches fine arts in the capital Chengdu. The painting shows how with just one more second, rescuers could save one more life.
Says Lim: "The rebuilding process is massive. About 7,500 schools have been destroyed. Although our efforts are minuscule in light of the size of the disaster, it is still a step to help the victims."
Unshakable China-One People, One Spirit is on at the Yisulang Art Gallery, 6 Handy Road, 02-01 The Luxe, Singapore, from tomorrow to Sunday, 11am-9pm. The charity art auction will be held at the gallery on Saturday from 4 to 6pm.