HKDI Students & Cancer Patients Together Created Emotionally-Moving Art Pieces
HKDI Students & Cancer Patients Together Created Emotionally-Moving Art Pieces
17 Nov 2014
Around Ten Year 1 students from the Communication and Digital Media Design Department of HKDI participated in the Art Blending Workshop (表達藝術治療合作坊) organised by Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society in early November, 2014. At the workshop, students of HKDI met with 10 cancer patients aged from 8 to 77 years old. Together with the patients, they created a painting with pastel called “My Dear” (我心愛的), so that cancer patients can experience the benefits of expressive art therapy. Chairman of Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society, Mrs. Chu Yeung Pak-yu, Patricia, says “We invite HKDI students to create a painting with the cancer patients because young people are always full of energy.” She also hopes that students can understand the skills they have learnt do not only allow them to create a product, but also possess therapeutic functions, especially for the cancer patients.
Before joining the Workshop, some HKDI students thought that an activity with cancer patients would be emotionally heavy. However, after seeing the smiles on the faces of the cancer patients as they started to paint, the students are very touched – especially when some of the patients were able to put aside their negative emotions when they were painting. Even though the patients did not have any experience in artistic creation before, they were able to create emotionally-moving art pieces together with the participation of HKDI students.
HKDI Lecturer of Communication and Digital Media, Mrs. Lai Siu Ying states that at the Workshop, artistic skills are not relevant. It is also not necessary to judge whether the finished pieces can express certain types of emotions. The objective is to allow all participants to express their own emotional status, even though it is expressed in the forms of simple shapes and colours. These symbols are sufficient in expressing different types of complicated emotions and the unique experience of every participant, so that they can enjoy the benefits of arts therapy.
On the Hong Kong Cancer Day (14 Dec 2014), Kowloon Park will be transformed into an “Expressive Art Gallery” to exhibit the paintings created at the “Art Blending Workshop”. The general public will be able to experience the emotions and stories behind each art piece and to develop a deeper understanding of artistic creations.
