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Touching the Earth |
Photo: Students made rock, pebble and shell sculptures for the Urban Jungle project.
© Hong Kong Youth Arts Festival
© Hong Kong Youth Arts Festival
Story From Positive News Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, we dwell on concrete and most of the time our feet never touch the earth below us. Throughout 2005, the Youth Arts Festival worked with its local artists to provide young people the opportunity to connect with nature, to touch and smell the earth, and create their own artistic responses.
The visual art exhibition, Hong Kong Jockey Club Urban Jungle, held at the Arts Centre last November, displayed stunning artwork from 6,000 students ranging from special needs groups, to primary and secondary school pupils. On show were towering mixed media Banyan trees, circle mandalas to celebrate the 'miraculous wholeness' of nature, and installation art pieces made to pay tribute to 'the amazing ways seeds are sown in the natural world'. Inspired by the work of UK artist, Andy Goldsworthy, Katie Flowers, also an artist and the Urban Jungle project leader, led a team of 300 students out into the countryside from Tai Po Kau to Kadoorie Farm. They gathered natural materials, such as seeds, flowers, leaves, feathers, stones and shells, and shaped them into exquisite sculptures.
"The aim was to encourage teenagers, across the region, to pause and reflect on their connection with nature, and to interact with all the forests and beaches of their home," said Katie. The results included a ladder strung together with delicate gold and red leaves, a mud spiral in shallow waters and a bouquet of pink blooms in a waterfall pool. Students were able to witness the cycle of nature, while their artworks existed for that one moment, before vanishing back into the environment.
According to Katie, on one occasion, the young artists watched while their creations on the beach were simply swept away by the afternoon tide. However, the fleeting beauty of the outdoor pieces were recorded by the photographer, Cheung Chi-wai, and his team. All the pictures were then hung from high banners during the monthlong exhibition.
Photographs of the outings showed students absorbed in their creativity – lacing ferns together that were left to drift away downstream, sifting through bright petals or binding tree trunks with straggling vines. The highly successful Urban Jungle project included a range of installations, artist in schools programmes, workshops and free, bilingual, education packs – all designed to celebrate the beauty and biodiversity of Hong Kong's natural environment.
"Green environmental attitudes are not automatic," said Katie, "Positively experiencing small pockets of nature needs to come first."
Contact: www.hkyaf.com
In Hong Kong, we dwell on concrete and most of the time our feet never touch the earth below us. Throughout 2005, the Youth Arts Festival worked with its local artists to provide young people the opportunity to connect with nature, to touch and smell the earth, and create their own artistic responses.
The visual art exhibition, Hong Kong Jockey Club Urban Jungle, held at the Arts Centre last November, displayed stunning artwork from 6,000 students ranging from special needs groups, to primary and secondary school pupils. On show were towering mixed media Banyan trees, circle mandalas to celebrate the 'miraculous wholeness' of nature, and installation art pieces made to pay tribute to 'the amazing ways seeds are sown in the natural world'. Inspired by the work of UK artist, Andy Goldsworthy, Katie Flowers, also an artist and the Urban Jungle project leader, led a team of 300 students out into the countryside from Tai Po Kau to Kadoorie Farm. They gathered natural materials, such as seeds, flowers, leaves, feathers, stones and shells, and shaped them into exquisite sculptures.
"The aim was to encourage teenagers, across the region, to pause and reflect on their connection with nature, and to interact with all the forests and beaches of their home," said Katie. The results included a ladder strung together with delicate gold and red leaves, a mud spiral in shallow waters and a bouquet of pink blooms in a waterfall pool. Students were able to witness the cycle of nature, while their artworks existed for that one moment, before vanishing back into the environment.
According to Katie, on one occasion, the young artists watched while their creations on the beach were simply swept away by the afternoon tide. However, the fleeting beauty of the outdoor pieces were recorded by the photographer, Cheung Chi-wai, and his team. All the pictures were then hung from high banners during the monthlong exhibition.
Photographs of the outings showed students absorbed in their creativity – lacing ferns together that were left to drift away downstream, sifting through bright petals or binding tree trunks with straggling vines. The highly successful Urban Jungle project included a range of installations, artist in schools programmes, workshops and free, bilingual, education packs – all designed to celebrate the beauty and biodiversity of Hong Kong's natural environment.
"Green environmental attitudes are not automatic," said Katie, "Positively experiencing small pockets of nature needs to come first."
Contact: www.hkyaf.com
