When talking about the painting with an elderly woman holding her son, Sublime noticed her hands: “Her hands are painted with delicate details; you can tell at a glance that she does hard labor every day. The painting brings to live the indomitable spirit in her eyes and the hardships she experienced.” Allegra especially enjoyed the paintings that showed various realms and dimensions. “These paintings are amazing, and make people want to learn more about the significance behind them,” she said.

The paintings showed that while facing the CCP’s brutal persecution, practitioners remain steadfast in Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Marie said the message she saw in the paintings was, “The world needs peace, love and courage.” She said although some works were about death, the spiritual power was strong.

Sally Huckridge from Australia said she enjoyed the performances on the square and had a big smile on her face. She said, “I just talked to a practitioner and she told me about the practice and explained why the celebration was held. The performances are amazing.”

Fizah, who works as a public relations specialist in the marketing department at Lindholm Science Park, saw the practitioners demonstrating the exercises in the drizzle, and said, “How resilient they are! I can’t even stand for ten minutes in this kind of weather, let alone maintain this posture. I think there must be something motivating them to do this, and it’s working.”