Hatching the Egg of Hope
For Miyazaki Kensuke,/art is a way to share happiness/with people all over the world. He sees life as a journey/to discover an answer to the question:/Who am I as a person/and as an artist?
I’ve always loved painting. During a spring break in high school,/I visited Belgium for two weeks. I spent my time/painting on the streets. People who passed by/seemed happy to see my work,/even though I couldn’t understand their language. I realized the power of art/to bring people together.
In college,/I had a dream. I wanted people all over the world/to recognize me as a great artist. After graduating,/I went to London to become famous.
In London,/I lived and worked part-time/in a guest house. I didn’t have much money. No gallery accepted my paintings.
My street artist friends and I/thought it was cool to look angry. They were expressing their anger/at social injustice,/and their anger was real. But I was from an ordinary family/living an ordinary life. I wasn’t angry at all.
I was in London for two years,/but still I wasn’t a famous artist. I decided/I had to find a different way of expressing myself.
In London,/I happened to watch a TV program/about a school for orphans and street children/in Nairobi, Kenya. The children looked unhappy. I suddenly felt an urge to go to Kenya/and paint something for those children.
It wasn’t easy,/but finally in 2006,/I got to Kenya,/found the school,/and was able to paint for the children. I painted an angry dragon. I was happy with it,/but a teacher complained,/“The children are frightened by the dragon. Some of them refuse to come to school.” The children thought/that it was a big snake. They did not know/that dragons are imaginary.
I asked them,/“What would you like me to paint?”
“Lions!” “Baobabs!”
I asked the children to help me,/and we had a lot of fun painting together. According to the teachers,/the children became more active than before.
That was a turning point in my career. Creating happiness through painting/in collaboration with others/is my thing. I made up my mind/to do a painting project every year/in different parts of the world.
In 2011,/after the Great East Japan Earthquake,/I joined a volunteer group in Sendai. Because schools were closed,/children had nothing to do. They looked bored. I thought/my painting project might cheer them up. I started working with these children. We painted the walls of a school.
A barber in Ofunato, Iwate,/asked me to paint a sign for his shop. I not only made the sign,/but I also painted his whole shop/in bright colors!
I had doubts/about the usefulness of my art project,/but I did not want to think/that art has no power/in the face of disaster. Money and supplies that people donate/can be of great help. But working together on a painting/and sharing the joy of creation/can also help. People can laugh and smile/even in the worst conditions.
In 2017,/I found myself in Mariupol, Ukraine. A war was going on. It was a very dangerous place. People were dying every day. I saw shell holes everywhere/and buildings destroyed by bombs.
Mariupol was not a safe place/for an art project. But to my surprise,/when I started painting,/children came out of nowhere/to join me.
We painted a big mitten. The idea is based on/a popular Ukrainian story,/The Magic Mitten. In the story,/one snowy night,/an old man drops his mitten. A mouse,/a frog,/a rabbit,/a fox,/a wolf,/and many other animals/climb into the mitten/to stay warm.
In our painting,/you see people from all over the world/sharing the warmth of a huge mitten. It is decorated with Easter eggs/which represent life and hope. Our painting shows/that people’s warm hearts can hatch the egg of hope/and bring a peaceful life to us all.
I still do not have a clear answer to the question:/Who am I as a person/and as an artist? But one thing has become clear:/my art has the power/to make people “super happy.”
For Miyazaki Kensuke,/art is a way to share happiness/with people all over the world. He sees life as a journey/to discover an answer to the question:/Who am I as a person/and as an artist?
I’ve always loved painting. During a spring break in high school,/I visited Belgium for two weeks. I spent my time/painting on the streets. People who passed by/seemed happy to see my work,/even though I couldn’t understand their language. I realized the power of art/to bring people together.
In college,/I had a dream. I wanted people all over the world/to recognize me as a great artist. After graduating,/I went to London to become famous.
In London,/I lived and worked part-time/in a guest house. I didn’t have much money. No gallery accepted my paintings.
My street artist friends and I/thought it was cool to look angry. They were expressing their anger/at social injustice,/and their anger was real. But I was from an ordinary family/living an ordinary life. I wasn’t angry at all.
I was in London for two years,/but still I wasn’t a famous artist. I decided/I had to find a different way of expressing myself.
In London,/I happened to watch a TV program/about a school for orphans and street children/in Nairobi, Kenya. The children looked unhappy. I suddenly felt an urge to go to Kenya/and paint something for those children.
It wasn’t easy,/but finally in 2006,/I got to Kenya,/found the school,/and was able to paint for the children. I painted an angry dragon. I was happy with it,/but a teacher complained,/“The children are frightened by the dragon. Some of them refuse to come to school.” The children thought/that it was a big snake. They did not know/that dragons are imaginary.
I asked them,/“What would you like me to paint?”
“Lions!” “Baobabs!”
I asked the children to help me,/and we had a lot of fun painting together. According to the teachers,/the children became more active than before.
That was a turning point in my career. Creating happiness through painting/in collaboration with others/is my thing. I made up my mind/to do a painting project every year/in different parts of the world.
In 2011,/after the Great East Japan Earthquake,/I joined a volunteer group in Sendai. Because schools were closed,/children had nothing to do. They looked bored. I thought/my painting project might cheer them up. I started working with these children. We painted the walls of a school.
A barber in Ofunato, Iwate,/asked me to paint a sign for his shop. I not only made the sign,/but I also painted his whole shop/in bright colors!
I had doubts/about the usefulness of my art project,/but I did not want to think/that art has no power/in the face of disaster. Money and supplies that people donate/can be of great help. But working together on a painting/and sharing the joy of creation/can also help. People can laugh and smile/even in the worst conditions.
In 2017,/I found myself in Mariupol, Ukraine. A war was going on. It was a very dangerous place. People were dying every day. I saw shell holes everywhere/and buildings destroyed by bombs.
Mariupol was not a safe place/for an art project. But to my surprise,/when I started painting,/children came out of nowhere/to join me.
We painted a big mitten. The idea is based on/a popular Ukrainian story,/The Magic Mitten. In the story,/one snowy night,/an old man drops his mitten. A mouse,/a frog,/a rabbit,/a fox,/a wolf,/and many other animals/climb into the mitten/to stay warm.
In our painting,/you see people from all over the world/sharing the warmth of a huge mitten. It is decorated with Easter eggs/which represent life and hope. Our painting shows/that people’s warm hearts can hatch the egg of hope/and bring a peaceful life to us all.
I still do not have a clear answer to the question:/Who am I as a person/and as an artist? But one thing has become clear:/my art has the power/to make people “super happy.”