On December 25th, the 4th "Melting Love, Contrasting" Art Exhibition and the Mental Disabled Group "Art Enlightenment to the Future" Disability Integration Public Welfare Activity kicked off at the Shanghai Noble Center Art Museum, the event was guided by the Shanghai Welfare Association for the Disabled, the co-organizer of the event, Shanghai Concentric Walk Public Welfare Association, Shanghai New Youth Art Promotion Center, Shanghai Minhang District Meilong Tianzhao Community Cultural Service Center, as well as Meilong Town Disabled Persons' Federation, Xinzhuang Town Disabled Persons' Federation, Qibao Town Disabled Persons' Federation, Representatives of the Minhang District Association for the Management of Persons with Disabilities and their Relatives and Friends attended the opening ceremony. It is reported that the public welfare activities of this year's "Melting Love, Contrasting Colors" Art Exhibition are undertaken by Shanghai Baoshan Miaoxing Anda Community Public Welfare Service Center, Mingxin Cultural Center, Shanghai Minhang District Old Volunteers Association, and Shanghai Noble New Journey Culture and Art Development Co., Ltd.
Datong World Calls for Love, Love, Contrasting Colors Art Exhibition Moves Forward Firmly
This year is the fourth year, this public welfare activity has not stopped even during the three-year epidemic period, and the scheduled development of this event is like a ray of warm sun to dispel the winter cold in Shencheng.
Mr. Wang Hongli, the initiator of the public welfare project of the "Melting Love, Contrasting Colors" art exhibition and the chairman of the Meilong Tianzhao Community Cultural Service Center in Minhang District, Shanghai, introduced to you at the event that the mentally handicapped group cannot communicate with everyone normally due to congenital brain development problems, they may be cerebral palsy patients, autistic patients, and mental disorder patients that we have seen or heard about in our lives, but they are not nothing, they may have potential talents that are different from ordinary people, but they have not been paid attention to;They may have ideas that are beyond the ordinary, but they can't express them. They should not be lacking in our ideal world of great harmony.
Based on his personal experience as a teenager as a mentally handicapped person, as well as the social care he received when he grew up, Wang Hongli launched this public welfare project in 2012, hoping to use art as a medium to help ordinary people and families who experience mental disabilities like himself. Along the way, his motivation and persistence have touched more and more people to work together, and everyone has come because of love, promoting "Melting Love and Contrasting Colors" to move forward firmly.
One meter of sunlight shines into the mental world of the mentally handicapped group
Everyone has their own color in their heart, and the colorful inner world exists in every soul. The original intention of the "Melting Love, Contrasting Colors" public welfare art exhibition is to bring the strength of all walks of life to promote the mentally handicapped to express their emotions, dreams and spiritual world through their own efforts and artistic creation, and also call on the public to bring their own colors, love and tolerance, experience and interaction to enter the mental world of the mentally handicapped together!
In the past many years, civil servants, business people, well-known artists, curators, people, students, doctors, volunteer groups, corporate employees and other caring people from various fields from all over the world have learned about the mentally disabled group through the "Melting Love, Contrasting Colors" art exhibition project, and used practical caring actions to gather into a meter of sunshine to illuminate the world of this special group. Some people with mental disabilities also answered with brushes in their hands through the public welfare platform of "Melting Love and Contrasting Colors".
At this event, 71 paintings created by people with mental disabilities and various handicraft works participated in the exhibition, which received enthusiastic responses from people from all walks of life, and everyone expressed their support for them in the form of loving subscriptions and donations. Up to this year's event, nearly 1,000 original works by people with mental disabilities have been unveiled in the "Melting Love, Contrasting Colors" art exhibition.
At the same time, at the scene of this event, the mentally handicapped people from Shanghai Feiye Art Special Children Education Center, Sunshine Home of Xinzhuang Town, and Sunshine Home of Qibao Town brought recitation x martial arts x calligraphy performance "Man Jianghong", Tibetan dance performance "Eji in Dreams", and sign language dance "Grateful Heart".
"Art to the Future" Let's come together
A penny is difficult to cross the ocean. Everyone rowed their oars and started the galleon. In order to integrate the mentally handicapped into society, Tiancai Public Welfare continues to integrate high-quality social resources and actively strive for social forces to join the Sunshine Family. "Art for the Future" is a joint disability theme project launched by the "Melting Love, Contrasting Colors" public welfare art exhibition from 2022.
In terms of artist collaboration, in this event, Mr. Wu Shufang, a senior curator, raised and donated more than 300 masterpieces by the late painter Mr. Zhang Jiande.
At the same time, Art for the Future is also collaborating with a growing number of institutions, especially art education institutions. At the site of this event, an awarding ceremony was held for 15 disability integration institutions, including Youyou Jiami, David Painting Society, Huaying Education, Hengzheng Medical Technology, Najie Catering, Shanghai Putuo Linhua Education and Training School, Painting in and Outside the Painting, Look at Children's Painting, Art Point Education, Extraordinary Space Art Center, Good Painting Creative Art Space, Yanran Art, Happy Sheep Art, Ziwenxuan Education, and Hewu Painting House. Mr. Li Yuanli, director of the Shanghai Concentric Aesthetic Education Special Association, mentioned in her speech that the 2024 "Melting Love, Contrasting Colors" art exhibition and the "Art to the Future" theme project are expected to enter hundreds of schools in Shanghai through cooperation with maritime aesthetic education.
From the beginning of its creation, the "Melting Love, Contrasting Colors" public welfare art exhibition is not only a concept of an event, but strives to reach more people's hearts through multiple angles and diversified ways, through deeper thinking, and together with the strength of all people to explore and practice sustainable disability assistance actions, but also provides a service platform for social caring enterprises and caring people to dedicate themselves and self-growth, and jointly establish a harmonious social environment. People can not only see excellent works in the art exhibition, but also experience the spirit of the mentally handicapped who love life and strive for self-improvement.
We really don't want to age faster than our children, what will they do in the future if we are gone?This is the voice of the parents of the mentally handicapped, and today through the platform of "Melting Love, Contrasting Colors" and "Art Enlightening the Future", everyone wants to say: Dear parents and friends, please don't give up, we are with you.
It is reported that Shanghai currently has more than 400,000 people with mental disabilities. Follow them, engage with them, and start now.