United Kingdom: "Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance International Art Exhibition” in London

The "Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance International Art Exhibition” was successfully held in central London between May the 31st and June the 3rd. The exhibition gallery was located in a traditional building just opposite the British Museum. The touching displays attracted many visitors including tourists from around the world.

The "Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance International Art Exhibition” has toured Washington DC, New York and over thirty other international cities in many countries including Canada, South Korea and Indonesia, attracting a lot of attention. In Britain, Cambridge hosted the exhibition in May. The exhibition featured over forty paintings by artists from fifteen countries.

The most striking characteristic is that all the artists are Falun Gong practitioners. Among them are renowned artists Zhang Cuying and Fan Hong, who personally suffered the brutal persecution in Mainland China simply because of their belief. The artists use traditional painting skills to express the spiritual meaning of the Falun Gong’s principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance”, and deliver a message of beauty, purity and kindness. The paintings revealed to the visitors the beauty of cultivation, the spirit of great benevolence and tolerance displayed by Falun Gong practitioners in the face of the persecution and the principle that good will be rewarded and evil will be punished.

The London exhibition selected thirteen representative paintings of outstanding quality. Although the exhibition was of a small scale, it was very powerful. A local resident said, “Although this is a small art exhibition, it brought to people much thinking and hope. It also touched a lot of my feelings towards Chinese people.” The works that depicted the persecution and torture suffered by Falun Gong practitioners in Communist China directly touched many visitors’ hearts. Because each painting represented a true story told by artists, visitors got a clear picture about the painting and the story behind it with the help of guided tour.

One painting by Li Yuan, “Suffering in the Middle Kingdom”, described a husband’s death for refusing to give up his belief in Falun Gong whilst imprisoned in a brainwashing centre. The wife sat beside his body, her eyes, filled with tears, expressed her sadness and yet strong determination. The solemn and holy atmosphere deeply attracted visitors.

Another painting by Wang Weixin called “Why?” depicted a little boy who was jailed because his parents practise Falun Gong. Just after being beaten, the boy’s puzzling eyes seemed to ask: “why do they beat me and my mother?” Indeed many people have the same query. A mother coming to see the exhibition with her children said emotionally: “I could not understand how this could have happened in the world. Even innocent children are being persecuted. What can we do to stop this violence?”
The brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese communists is still happening covertly. According to reliable reports, April 2005 alone saw over three hundred Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death. The total confirmed deaths since 1999 has surpassed 2,500. The number of unconfirmed death is at least a few times higher than that.

In the exhibition hall was a practitioner who was persecuted in China. He explained to the visitors the true picture of China’s persecution of Falun Gong. A painting titled “Mental Abuse” is a true reflection of his own encounter. In 2001, he was taken away by security officers, put into a closed room and forcibly injected with unknown drugs. He used just a few words to summarise his terrible experience: “Living is worse than death”. He continued: “I became unconscious. The whole room was filled with the smell of drugs.” As depicted in the painting, this practitioner stuck to the belief in Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. “If I didn’t practise Falun Gong, I would not have been able to come through,” he said firmly. Another painting “No Home To Go To” also stirred up his memory. The day he was taken away by the security officers was his daughter’s first birthday. The young girl’s innocent eyes in the painting made him to think of his own daughter’s helplessness and sadness during the two years of his absence.

The paintings depicting the beauty of Falun Gong deeply attracted visitors. The painting “Heaven and Human Become One” truly brought many people to the land of peace and tranquillity through sitting meditation. After seeing the painting, a visitor immediately asked practitioners to demonstrate the exercise and started to learn it. Many other visitors asked how to start practising after leaned the truth. A young lady happened to pass the exhibition gallery because she took the wrong bus and came in after seeing the poster outside. She had been searching for a cultivation method. She was very moved by the paintings and said that it must have been a power above that directed her here. She visited the exhibition a few times and wanted to read the main text of Falun Gong practice Zhuan Falun. Another lady, after seeing the exhibition, said: “I originally wanted to ask how I could help you, but I found that I was the one who got the help. I felt that I have a new beginning and a new life.”

After a week of the exhibition, many people gave positive feedback and encouragement for the exhibition and to Falun Gong practitioners. An artist from Syria said approvingly that she has been hoping to see the truth from the art works and this exhibition made her believe that there are still artists who understand the real meaning of life. A tourist from South Korea visited the exhibition in New York. He was very shocked then to see the violent nature of the Chinese communists. He said, “You are very brave. Please carry on and people will support you!” On the last day of the exhibition, a few Chinese democracy activists came to see the exhibition. Two of them signed the guest book: “The spirits of Falun Gong practitioners’ peaceful rebellion against the violent Chinese communist regime are a shining example for the Chinese nation,” and “The spirit of Falun Gong practitioners’ pursuing freedom of belief is the soul of Chinese people’s pursuit of liberty.”

The “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance Art Exhibition” delivered the truth through an art form and opened many people’s minds. As demonstrated in the painting “Red Wall” by Zhang Kunlun, the great wall which stopped people from seeing the truth of the universe will fall and “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance” will deeply root in the heart of mankind.