Special artists with disabilities are embracing life and demonstrating their talent and courage in exhibitions, performances and workshops. There's even a wheelchair dance for everyone.

For Liu Tung Mui, creating art is not only a mental and emotional challenge, but a physically draining exercise. This is clear from watching the Hong Kong painter at work. It is not a calm activity - she struggles to get her paintbrush where she wants it to go. Her face is serious, full of concentration.

Her father, Liu Pok Hing, stands at her side, ready to pass her a brush with the color of her choice. When her work is done, she relaxes and a big smile lights up her face.

Liu Tung Mui is motor-impaired because she was born with insufficient oxygen to the brain. Her brightly colored paintings are being shown in Shanghai as part of the Embracing Life (II) Exhibition at Infiniti Plaza, which features works by artists who are intellectually or physically challenged.

In addition to the painting exhibition that runs through Sunday, artists with disabilities will also take part in dance, visual communication and other shows and workshops. Ceramics will be displayed. A wheelchair dance will be featured in a program, "Dance is for Everyone" on October 20 and 21.

Artist Liu Tung Mui paints brightly colored, abstract animals, like tigers and birds, as well as linked human figures.

Speaking through her father, Liu Tung Mui says she is often in pain after completing a work. That might be enough to put off many aspiring artists, but she has now been painting for 18 years and has traveled around the world with her work, including exhibits in the United States, Japan and India.

Liu Tung Mui says it is hard for her to communicate verbally, so painting gives her the means to express herself.
 
She particularly enjoys painting birds and explains the main subject of her work is "cherishing life." She believes she cherishes life more than many other people do, because she could have died after she was born.

Her friends and relatives have taken good care of her, so in her work she tries to reflect the importance of relationships between human beings.

She has received many honors, and was named one of Hong Kong's 10 Outstanding Young People of 2005.

Other artists featured in the exhibition include fellow Hong Kong painter Lo Pui Yung and Shanghai's Hu Yiwen. Lo was born without arms but uses her feet to create intricate landscapes ink-wash paintings that celebrate the beauty of nature.

Hu began studying art at an early age but when she was 16, she suffered from life-threatening encephaloma - swelling of the brain. She nevertheless continued painting, creating dense richly colored, multi-layered works, some evocative of the works of Marc Chagall. She has published three art books, shown her works in seven exhibitions and visited France at the invitation of Danielle Mitterand, wife of former French President Francois Mitterand.

In addition to the works of these key artists, more than 70 pieces by 96 physically or mentally challenged students from Hong Kong and Guangzhou are also on exhibit.

The Embracing Life (II) exhibition is organized by the Music Department of Shanghai Normal University and Fringe Shanghai, which provides a platform for up-and-coming artists to present their works.

The first Fringe Shanghai festival was held last year and the next is due to take place in late 2008. But the team is busy presenting other innovative programs.

Associate Director of Program Planning Mark Ceolin says part of its mandate is to make arts accessible to all people, which is why the Embracing Life exhibition is so important.

"We're committed to hearing new voices and promoting the expression of new ideas," Ceolin says.

The exhibition is one part of "Equal ARTpportunities" - a series of art programs, shows and workshops by and about special artists taking place in Shanghai this month and next. It aims to enhance awareness and promote inclusiveness of people with disabilities.

The Ni Gao Olympics Ceramic Exhibition at The Pottery Workshop on Taikang Road features creative ceramic works by mentally challenged artists from Hong Kong.

A series of workshops on disability awareness give the general public the chance to interact with special artists as they create their works. These provide a unique opportunity to look at the world from an entirely different point of view.

In the "Dance Is for Everyone" workshop, participants will join experienced artists to create a "wonderful wheelchair dance."

"It's about dance for everyone," says Kwong Wai Lap, Fringe Shanghai's director of program planning. "No matter whether you have legs or not, you can dance."

The "Touch of the Sound" workshop will see participants and special artists engage in games and exercises in sound communication. The "Visual Communication" workshop, described as theater without sound and using simple sign language, is led by a hearing-impaired artist. It will give participants a chance to feel and communicate with only the sense of sight.

Kwong says the organizers want people to experience how the special artists "live in a world in a way that's not quite the same as ours, but at the same time they are not much different. We are all trying to handle our difficulties in life."

"Everyone has a disability anyway. I am short-sighted. I am getting old. I smoke," he laughs.

(Shanghai Daily October 14, 2007)