Embodying Wellness: An Introduction to Art for the Community

Following on from the success of first Lecture in the The Hong Kong Jockey Club Art Education and Female Empowerment Series A World Within: The Art and Inspiration of Irene Chou which focused on Art Therapy and the tools and methods required to heal through the arts, this panel discussion will deliver a conversation about how wellness can be achieved through art with emphasis on benefiting the community at large. By taking a look at specific case studies and examples, the panelists will detail the ways in which art and wellness can be utilized through various disciplines.

Leung Ching Wan (Gigi) graduated from the School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong in 2013. She began her work at the Tung Wah Group Hospitals to promote the artistic development and rights of people with disabilities in the i-dArt. In 2018, she completed her MA in Art Psychotherapy at the Goldsmiths University of London. Formerly an art psychotherapist at the Clarendon SEN School, she provided one-to-one and group services for people with a range of different mental and emotional conditions as well as victims of violence and trauma. Currently she runs a private practice, providing one-to-one and group services to people with Dementia, Parkinson’s disease, people with learning difficulties, and blindness. 

Wong Samson Kei Shun (Ph.D., Lingnan) is a researcher and practitioner of the community arts. He has brought together artists, communities and stakeholders through the arts to develop communities, nurture people and face trauma, local and overseas. He is currently Lecturer at Hong Kong Design Institute teaching community arts, aesthetic and culture. He is currently the Chairperson of local community arts organization Art for All.

Dr. Sophia Law is an Associate Professor of the Department of Visual Studies at Lingnan University. An art historian with years of nursing experience, Sophia has started a new research focus on the intrinsic nature of art as a language since 2007. Since 2009, she has been integrating a credit-bearing service-learning component into the course which allow students to use art as a platform to promote expression and communication for people in need. She is the author of The Invisible Citizens - Art and Stories of Vietnamese Boatpeople, Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2014; Colours of Dementia, Hong Kong: Sunglow Design & Publishing Co, 2014; Creativity Engaged! - An Art Facilitation Program for Dyslexia, HK: TMISC, 2013, and Art as Intervention in Serving Secondary Child Victims of Family Violence, HK: Department of Visual Studies, Lingnan University, 2016.