I have participated in the Mitsubishi Asian Children’s Enikki Festa for more than 10 years. With each Festa, the children’s works reveal a growing convergence of the global community. We see a common thread, for example, in how the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed life at home and at school. The responses to COVID-19, as viewed by the children, gain visible expression in the artworks. Children everywhere in Asia would seem to possess a spirit of prayerfulness toward the world around them. The Festa works present striking and frequently playful depictions of family life. Two parallel trends are visible in the works. Evoking a virtual reality steeped in This Festa was my third. We jurors were unable to gather for the previous Festa on account of COVID-19, so the opportunity to gather and judge the artworks together was exciting. The works become more colorful and exhibit more skill with each Festa. I am amazed at the level of the educational guidance that the children appear to be receiving. Especially notable amid that upward trend in artistic attainment are the rich color palettes that the young artists are deploying. Time and again, I found myself trying to determine exactly what color a young artist had employed. I was hugely impressed with how children so young could Visual art and diaries by Asian children. Once again did they prove for me an edifying and stimulating experience. COVID-19 has been a trying ordeal for children, as well as for adults. Their individual responses, as portrayed convincingly in the illustrated diaries, have shone a light through the clouds of the pandemic. They exhibit a lust for life, a joy in nature, a love of family. The numerous works are inspirational and were gratifying to judge. Even The religious portrayals in the Mitsubishi Asian Children’s Enikki Festa span Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and Islamic traditions. They are a powerful reminder of Asia’s diversity. Allocating a first or second choice amid the multifarious works is a trying ordeal. The challenge has always been trying, but this time it was well-nigh impossible. That’s because the overall level has risen so impressively. In the early years of the Festa, the works from less-developed nations betrayed their sources with timid coloration. Economic differentials were thus visible among fellow Asian nations, but the coloration has since become steadily more robust across works from all the participating nations. It evokes the development under way across Asia. An impression that lingers from judging the Mitsubishi Asian Children’s Enikki Festa is the diversity in traditions among nations. That begins with the illustrated diaries, which are a familiar tradition in Japan but apparently not in some other nations. Familiar or not, the illustrated diaries are a marvelous way for children to interact with counterparts in other nations—to share how they live and what is special to them in daily life. The latest Festa was another opportunity to thrill to illustrated diaries from a diversity of children in diverse nations. We see at first a commonality in how children everywhere go to school, eat together, and go home. But then we discover the vast globalization are such media as television, movies, and manga. A powerful reality takes hold, however, in the children’s attainment of a capacity for grasping through their own eyes. The grand prix winner from Japan, for example, has painted the bantam that she is holding from a face-forward perspective. She has rendered the fowl not as she might have imagined one in her mind but as she saw it with her eyes. Her confidence in her gaze, together with the bold colors, has resulted in a wonderful work. An important takeaway from the works overall is the children’s energetic depiction of their local communities, even as they absorb global influences. We marvel at their renderings of such personal subjects as happenings around them and beloved animals. What we see in the works bodes well for the children’s futures.have used subtle intermediate colors so expressively. Among the thoughts that came to mind as I viewed the works intently were what sorts of art materials the children were using and whether art education in the different nations included the techniques of local traditional arts. Something else that came to mind was what I perceive as an urbanization visible in the works. That would seem to be a reflection of the convergence of living standards. It is presumably also a reflection of the increased global interaction through the Internet occasioned by COVID-19. Children’s gaze today seems to be less outward than inward, focused on individual realms of life. That includes, of course, the information available to them through the Internet and other channels about the world outside. I sensed that trend repeatedly during my work on the national screening committee and on the international screening committee.the works not chosen as grand prix winners imparted a wealth of learning and discovery. Strong in mind is a camel rendering from Mongolia. It differed from my notion and recollection of camels, but it was memorable as a beautiful, dreamy rendering. The Mitsubishi Asian Children’s Enikki Festa is a marvelous window on the thoughts and lifestyles of children throughout Asia. I look forward to seeing children share their diverse lives through diverse offerings in this undertaking. And I am grateful for how this latest Festa invigorated my spirit anew. A distinguishing feature of this year’s Festa works was the ubiquity of school closures occasioned by COVID-19 and the limitations on playing outside. That begged the question as to how the children passed their time, and the Festa works offered a heartwarming response. I was happy to see how children confined to their homes spread the wings of their imaginations there. Meanwhile, I was surprised at the large number of children that enjoyed access at home to remote learning. I hadn’t realized that digitization had made such progress in Asian nations. Japan was a disappointment in that regard.Asia’s diversity encompasses nations subject to political instability. The cheerfully optimistic illustrated diaries from the children are therefore all the more reassuring. They engender confidence in the futures of the children who did not yield to the pandemic.differences in lifestyles that arise from differences in such factors as traditions, climate, and values. Taking part in judging the Festas has enabled me to view countless illustrated diaries by children in Asian nations. It has been an encouraging revelation as to the narrowing disparity in standards of living. And while evaluating the works, I found myself thinking of the progress in digital technology—of how that will spawn more chances for more children to learn more about each other’s nations. That is a happy thought, indeed. Understanding begins with learning—learning about other people’s traditions, about their lifestyles, about their feelings. I thank the creators’ of the magnificent illustrated diaries for a fantastic experience. 71International JuryIchiro Sato Head of the JuryOil Painter; Professor Emeritus, Tokyo University of the Arts; President, Tohoku Seikatsu Bunka University and Junior CollegeMeo Saito Assistant Head of the JuryOil Painter; Professor, Tokyo University of the ArtsYoshino Oishi JurorPhotojournalistAkira Ikegami JurorJournalist; Professor, Meijo UniversityMachiko Satonaka JurorManga Artist; Professor, Osaka University of the Arts
元のページ ../index.html#73