September 10, 2009

(Clearwisdom.net) A traveling exhibit showcasing art by a group of politically-oppressed Chinese artists that stopped at the Tempe campus Wednesday included award-winning finger-paintings and depictions of torture.

The artists practice Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that originated in China in the early 1990s.

The exhibit, called "Uncompromising Courage," featured oil, watercolor, pencil and photographic artwork highlighting the experiences of many Falun Dafa practitioners in China, who claim they experienced oppression at the hands of the Communist Party of China.

Mary Jo Ard, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Tucson, helped bring the exhibit to ASU.

"First conceived in 2003, [the exhibit] tells of a people's story that has thus only been partially told," Ard said at the opening reception.

A banner hanging in the Turquoise Room of the Memorial Union read, "Falun Dafa Is Good."

Ard said this message is what Chinese Falun Dafa practitioners have been trying for years to convey to their government, which launched a 1999 propaganda campaign that was anti-Falun Dafa.

Following the start of the campaign, Ard said reports began to surface of Falun Dafa practitioners being tortured, sent to labor camps and killed.

Ard said she compares the violence of the "610 Office," the Chinese agency that focuses on Falun Dafa persecution, to the Nazi Gestapo's brutality.

Lifang Xia, an astrophysics graduate student and president of the ASU Falun Dafa Association, worked with Ard to bring the exhibit to ASU.

"Because Falun Dafa is being persecuted in China, many people don't know the real story," Xia said. "The artists use paintings to peacefully clarify the truth."

The exhibit is a cross-section of artistic expression from both witnesses and victims of the reported abuse.Many paintings include graphic depictions of torture, supporting Ard's Gestapo comparison. Other pieces provide images of peaceful meditation.

Themes include psychological struggles, broken homes and divine justice.

Graduate student of religious studies Stephanie Bilinsky said she was affected by the graphic paintings.

"[The exhibit] definitely was disturbing," she said. "You can't get around how upsetting it is, especially the way children are affected."

Nursing sophomore Katherine Andruszak said she admired the artists' method of political expression.

"It's a different way of expressing emotions," she said. "It makes painting very powerful."

Ard said the Falun Dafa belief system consists of three major elements: truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. The process of practicing Falun Dafa is called cultivation. Cultivation involves four exercises followed by meditation.

"The goal of cultivation is to return to your pure self," Ard said. "Falun Dafa is a very peaceful, wonderful self-improvement practice accessible to anybody."

The number of Falun Dafa practitioners worldwide is unknown, but Ard said thousands of practitioners attend conferences in major cities each year.

"We're told there are millions in China still practicing," Ard said.

So far, the exhibit has toured more than 40 countries and 200 cities. Ard said the campus showcases are especially effective in spreading Falun Dafa stories.

"Exhibiting at ASU can help bring more exposure to Falun Dafa," she said. "It's an important exhibit anywhere, but it's helpful for us to present it in a place where there are many people who can see it and take meaning away from it."

The exhibit will be on campus again on September 15.

Source: http://www.statepress.com/node/7378