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 4語 on the streets. People who 2語 seemed happy with my work, 2語 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 3語 a great artist. After graduating, I went to London to become famous.

In London, I lived and worked 1語 in a 2語. I didn't have much money. No 1語 accepted my paintings.

My street artist friends and I thought it was cool to look angry. They were expressing their 1語 at social 1語, and their anger was real. But I was from an 1語 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 3語 a TV program about a school for 1語 and street children in Nairobi, Kenya. The children looked unhappy. I suddenly felt an 1語 to go to Kenya and paint something for those children.

It was not 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 3語 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 1語.

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. 2語 the teachers, the children became more active than before.

That was a 2語 in my career. Creating happiness through painting 3語 others is my thing. I 4語 to do a painting project every year in different parts of the world.

In 2011, after the Great East Japan 1語, I joined a volunteer group in Sendai. Because schools were closed, children 4語. They looked bored. I thought my painting project might 3語. I started working with these children. We painted the walls of a school.

A barber in Ofunato, Iwate, asked me to make 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 1語 of my art project, but I did not want to think that art has no power 5語. Money and 1語 that people 1語 can 4語. But working together on a painting and sharing the joy of 1語 can also help. People can laugh and smile even in the worst conditions.

In 2017, I was in Mariupol, Ukraine. A war 3語. 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, 3語, when I started painting, children came 3語 to join me.

We painted a big 1語. The idea 3語 a famous Ukrainian story, "The Mitten." In this story, on a snowy night, an old man drops a mitten. A mouse, a frog, a rabbit, a fox, a wolf, and many other animals come into the mitten to keep warm.

In our painting, we see people from all over the world sharing the 1語 of the big mitten. It 3語 Easter eggs which 1語 life and hope. Our painting shows that people's warmth of heart can hatch the egg of hope, and bring a 1語 life to all of us.

I still don't have a clear answer to that question. Who am I as a person and as an artist? But one thing is clear. My art has the power to make people "super happy."