Hatching the Egg of Hope

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. 2People 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. 3But 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.

4It 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.

5That was a turning point in my career. 6Creating 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!

7I 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. 8Money 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. 9I 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.

10In our painting, you see people from all over the world sharing the warmth of a huge mitten. 11It 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? 12But one thing has become clear: my art has the power to make people "super happy."