How Can Art Be Healing

December 4, 2019December 4, 20192 Comments

— A test says my spiritual age is 108 years old and my psychological age 48,

For once, let me pretend to be that skeptical 108-year-old lady, who doesn’t care about national boundaries, religion, politics, class, race, color, language, gender and age. Pretend that this is self-experimentation. You open up to yourself in the dark. Your body melts into nothingness and your soul wanders freely. If you see your true self floating like a white dot, you might appreciate art. If art is the ultimate lifestyle of human beings, art is universal.

—“Layers of Us”, Shanghai, 2019.11.29 | 《层次不同的我们》摄于上海

—“Shades of Us”, Shanghai, 2019.11.29 | 《深浅不一的我们》摄于上海

That skeptical 108-year-old lady is fascinated by anything relating to people, like human touch and human nature. She believes that knowing what we are is essential for knowing what art is, and reflecting on what we’ve gone through is necessary for reflecting on why art is powerful. She also believes that understanding hurt people with empathy is helpful in understanding what healing is, and exploring the true self is vital in exploring how art can be healing.

—The Healing Art Exhibition, 2019.11.16 | 平生第一个艺术展

WHAT IS ART?

Wikipedia says, “Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts, expressing the author’s imaginative, conceptual ideas, or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power.” But what do the illiterate farmers and that skeptical 108-year-old lady think of art?

—Sold, 2019.11.19 | 已售

Like my father, farmers might say art is bullshit. For they don’t have the concept of art and so understand life more pragmatically. However, that skeptical 108-year-old lady thinks art is everywhere, even in the hands of the farmers. She thinks farmers have been creating natural artworks in all seasons, such as cultivating rice terraces, without learning about art. She thinks farmers lack knowledge but not feelings, they lack opportunities but not talent. She sees art as the unseen turmoil behind happiness or beauty before chaos.

—Available, 2019.12.02 | 可出售

WHY IS ART POWERFUL?

Someone once said, “Of all the things in the world, I’d argue that Art, in its many forms, is the most inspirational. Art has a phenomenal ability to make us feel understood, empowered, and less alone.” And that skeptical 108-year-old lady would agree, art dominates her life.

—Sold, 2019.11.23 | 已售

WHAT IS HEALING?

Healing is not treatment but the process of transformation: facing our true selves, seeing the emotions and limitations that our past experiences have brought us, and then returning to a naturally happy state of life. Dr. Dipak once said: “When we can uncover our heart and allow the light of happiness to shine, healing is taking place.“

—Available, 2019.12.02 | 可出售

HOW CAN ART BE HEALING?

We all have unresolved wounds or traumas. When we are unbalanced, diseased, damaged or spiritless, how can art help heal us?

—Available, 2019.12.02 | 可出售

For me, there seemed always an inner drive forcing me to act. When I couldn’t breathe, I took a walk. When I felt trapped in a tiny square, I went traveling. When I felt lost, I reminded myself to connect with people around me and so reconnect with my self. When I felt empty or horny, I fed my stomach or pleased my body. When I saw a beautiful pattern from a tangled mess, I would smile to add motion to it with my imagination. You might ask, where does such inner drive come from? Well, listen to your inner voice. Be self-aware. Be mindful. Be calm.

—Sold, 2019.11.28 | 已售

—Special wooden box package for shipment, 2019.11 | 个性特制木箱装运

IINNOO GALLERY & ELEVATE

Once I had this crazy idea to call for an artist like those who called for a marriage in the blind date corners. It impulsively moved me to Shanghai, where I met many artists from many countries. Every time when I visited a gallery or a museum, I felt safe and alive. When having someone to talk to or to listen to, I felt loved. Gratefully, IINNOO Gallery is like my mother bringing me to this art world and Elevate my father watering me to grow.

—IINNOO Team @ Exhibition: Infinite Repetition, IINNOO Gallery, 2019.03.01 | 《无限循环》开幕展小组合照@黑白之中画廊

—With Elevate Team @ Exhibition: Confront Abstraction, 1929 Art Space, 2019.11.02 | 《抽象对峙》开幕展上与阿黎微忑小组合影@1929艺术空间

December 7th, ELEVATE will be hosting a whole day of events at one of the biggest and best theatres in town. And I’m very happy to be involved.

Note: To build a mutual Literature & Art community, Heather has now opened her personal channel (WeChat ID: Heather69) to her fans, who are following HeathersChamber. No cheaters!

Last article 上一篇: My Very First Publication | 平生第一次出版

About Heather Cai:

Heather is the daughter of a subsistence rice farmer from Fujian Province, China. She tells stories from her experience as one of the poorest. She writes her dream to share with the world, a very personal place. She has now written two English literary novels and is looking to being published in the UK. Her passion is a splendid cocktail or milkshake of word, image, music and art. She likes collecting books, DVDs, papers, stones, shells and leaves. She desires for all forms of natural beauty. She is currently teaching kids chess in Shanghai and serving as Sergeant-at-arms (SAA) for Shanghai Leadership Toastmasters Club.

Copyright © 2018-2019 Heather Cai. All Rights Reserved. 所有版权归作者蔡太莲所有！

Follow HeathersChamber for more original poems, essays, prose, drawings and pictures

关注阿太的密室，订阅更多原创诗歌、散文、随笔、画画和图片

My Very First Publication | 平生第一次出版

November 23, 2019November 23, 20192 Comments

—“The Undiscovered Self”, Sri Lanka, 2015.3 | 《未被发现的自我》摄于斯里兰卡

“Three year olds can play piano, can paint, can sing, but can three year olds write a novel?”

Thus, the B人BEL editor Luis questioned when he lay out his work on editing my short story – Traditions or Choices – my very first publication.

“三岁的孩子可以弹钢琴，可以画画，可以唱歌，但是三岁的孩子能写小说吗？”

B人BEL杂志编辑Luis在摊开讨论编辑我平生第一次出版的短片小说《传统还是选择》时这样质疑。

—“The Unrecognized You”, Sri Lanka, 2015.3 | 《未被认可的你》摄于斯里兰卡

Certainly writing a novel is impossible for three year olds, and even for most thirty year olds. I had no idea how to write one in 2014 when I started drafting my first English novel. It was a call like no other –

“Writing is not a ‘career’. There is no salary, no job security, no promotion, no pension, no guarantee of work, no guarantee that anyone will ever notice what you do. Writing is a calling. If you are called, answer. Prepare for a life of intense work at curious hours, likely obscurity and regular self-doubt, punctuated by periods of wonder that somehow make it all worthwhile.”

三岁的孩子当然不可能写小说，甚至绝大部分三十岁的人也不行。2014年在起草我的第一部英语小说时，我还不知道该怎么写。只是很多久远深沉的故事从四面八方推压着我不得不去释放，可以说是绝无仅有的一次内心的呼唤。（如今庆幸自己这么做了，读个段子再激励一下）

有一天，在公园里·····

女：”有三室两厅吗？”

男：”没有！”

女：”有路虎，奥迪吗？”

男：”没有！”

女：”有7位数存款吗？”

男：”没有！”

女：”那你有啥？”

男：”我………”

女转身就要走···

突然男的说：”我是作家”！

女立刻回头抱住男的腰，满脸崇拜的说道：

“你不早说，写作压力这么大，如此辛若，你还没被累死，一定是个潜力股，这就够了！够了！”

——这是2019年度最励志的段子

—“The Unheard Story”, Sri Lanka, 2015.3 | 《不为人知的故事》摄于斯里兰卡

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For B人BEL Magazine #2 launch information, please click here.

有关B人BEL杂志第二期发行活动信息，请点击这里。

Note: To build a mutual Literature & Art community, Heather has now opened her personal channel (WeChat ID: Heather69) to her fans, who are following HeathersChamber. No cheaters!

备注：由于时间和精力有限，为了建立一个互敬互惠的文学艺术圈子，阿太特向已关注此公众号的粉丝们分享她的个人微信号：Heather69 。骗子勿扰！

Last article 上一篇: My Very First Exhibition in Life | 平生第一个画展

About Heather Cai:

Heather is the daughter of a subsistence rice farmer from Fujian Province, China. She tells stories from her experience as one of the poorest. She writes her dream to share with the world, a very personal place. She has now written two English literary novels and is looking to being published in the UK. Her passion is a splendid cocktail or milkshake of word, image, music and art. She likes collecting books, DVDs, papers, stones, shells and leaves. She desires for all forms of natural beauty. She is currently teaching kids chess in Shanghai and serving as Sergeant-at-arms (SAA) for Shanghai Leadership Toastmasters Club.

Copyright © 2018-2019 Heather Cai. All Rights Reserved. 所有版权归作者所有！

Follow HeathersChamber for more original poems, essays, prose, drawings and pictures

关注阿太的密室，订阅更多原创诗歌、散文、随笔、画画和图片

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Drawing#7: Self Comparison

May 8, 20153 Comments

Self Comparison

This is my current situation. As a not-published-yet writer, I have nothing but walls. Am I about to fall or rise?…

From now on, I’ll post my drawings weekly, or maybe twice a week. To share the below auto-biographic stories, I’ll keep being creative, transforming my thoughts into words and images.

I started school when I was ten. In primary school, there was no lessons other than Maths and Chinese. The rest were merely reading on your own and doing homework. So basically, I had to skip the rest of the classes to do housework or farmwork. And the teacher used charcoal to write on the wooden board. Not to mention that I never owned any proper paper. One evening after dinner, I invited my best playmate to visit my room. We sat up on the bed face to face, looking into each other. Then we came up with an idea to draw each other’s face. So we used the back page of my Chinese and Math books, which were blank and white. In the end, we looked again and again at the drawings, laughing with pride. Too bad, soon the pictures faded away naturally. Now the drawn face has become vague, but the memory of my very first drawing with a pencil is still vivid.

In middle school, there was a drawing teacher who, I would reckon, was the best and the only drawing teacher in my life. Yet, the lesson was basically the teacher talking and we listening. Not because the teacher didn’t want us to practice drawing but we couldn’t afford the paper and the school couldn’t afford drawing paper for each student. Thus one day, our school held a sort of competition, giving each student one hard white sheet of paper to draw on and a piece of red soft paper to cut. (Paper cutting was very traditional in my hometown. Both weddings and funerals require it absolutely.) I had no idea how to cut properly. Nor did the others. Everyone just cut randomly and chose any picture in the book to draw. To my amazement, my drawing was shown on the wall as the second prize and my cutting paper the first prize. And that was that.

For writing and drawing, no one really cared or cares in my hometown. It was the scores in the examinations that were most important to the parents, the teachers and the schools. Even then, two of my schoolmates, who were really talented at drawing, just become teachers and have a normal family.

But not me! I always want to follow my heart. Many times when there’s an image floating in my head, I believe it would be good if I can put it on paper to make it visible. On February 28th, 2015, I was using the toilet and one image strongly forced me to capture and sketch. So The Left Eye became my first drawing to share here. Then Be Wild and then The Solitary. Now Confusion.

PS: I have been quite “productive” in drawing lately. So this first round is black and white with ballpoint pen. Next will be in color.

Thank you for reading and appreciating! I hope you all are happy doing what you really want! 🙂

A True Outsider Writing

I read what seduces me, I write what perverts me.

Tag: self