Visual arts events during the Spotlight festival this week exuded a vitality which showed in no uncertain terms that the physically handicapped artists who created them were too busy embracing life to feel thwarted by their disabilities.
More than 200 artists from seven Asian countries have been taking part in “Spotlight, An Asian Festival for Inclusive Arts” that will end Saturday night.
Japanese artist Mitsushima Takayuki, who lost his sight as a child, made colors sparkle on glass Monday as he created an abstract scene out of a few lines of paint on two glass panels. The piece and his other works—geometric shapes with contours in relief for blind people to also enjoy—are exhibited at Gasolina through Saturday.
Kok Leong of Singapore, who is paralyzed from the neck down, is showing his watercolors at Meta House until Sunday. He will demonstrate how he paints by holding brushes in his mouth at the Cambodia Trust offices located in the grounds of the Calmette Hospital Friday and at Gasolina on Saturday.
Also Friday, nearly-blind Singaporean artist Chng Seok Tin will guide visitors in a touching tour of her maze of red banners at the French Cultural Center.
Tonight’s schedule includes foreign and Cambodian artists mixing traditional dance and hip-hop, puppetry and percussion on stage at Sovanna Phum Theatre and Thai jazz pianist Yuttana Srimulchai performing at the Art Cafe.
On Saturday, the public is invited to take part in an all-day workshop on creativity at Gasolina, and attend a Japanese drum performance by Koshu Roa Taiko and a puppet show by Japan’s Hitomi Deaf Puppet Theater at Chenla Theatre. Admission is free to all events.
