Chinese folk arts and crafts on display |31 October 2006

The exhibition, which was officially opened on Friday last week, is being staged at the Carrefour des Arts.

It features not only ordinary paintings, but also marble and stone paintings as well as paper cuttings.

Guests present at the opening ceremony included the Minister for the Arts, Culture and Sports, Sylvette Pool; the Minister for Employment and Social Affairs, Marie-Pierre Lloyd; members of the diplomatic corps, among others.

In a brief introduction to the art works on display, the First Secretary at the Chinese Embassy, Li Yijian, noted how the Chinese people have a deep appreciation of beautiful artworks and how in these works, nature and the realm of spiritual world are conveyed. Mr Li took the opportunity to express his gratitude to the Ministry of the Arts, Culture and Sports as well as the National Arts Council (NAC) for their support in the success of the exhibition.

Speaking on behalf of NAC, its managing director, Emmanuel D’Offay, said that they are indeed honoured to be able to host such an exhibition, which he described as yet another way that the Chinese government is contributing to the development of the arts in Seychelles.

He said that the scholarships in art offered by the Chinese government is of great help to the government Seychelles and he hopes that this will continue.

Mr D’Offay also called on other embassies to follow this example and contribute to the development of the arts scene in Seychelles by holding similar exhibitions depicting the culture of the countries they represent.

Noting that there is a “soif artistique” in Seychelles, Mr D’Offay said that being a country in the middle of the ocean, Seychelles depends on such contributions from other countries.

Apart from paintings, the exhibition also features a fascinating section dedicated to the art of paper cutting. This uniquely Chinese art is a very ancient tradition in China dating back to thousands of years. This art form is believed to have been started in Turpan, in the province of Xinjiang. It is said that in the not so distant past in the provinces a maiden who was very skilled at paper cutting had a better chance of attracting a husband and for this very reason this art became important to many.

One of the contributing artists to the exhibition is Cai Jianguo, who said that he prefers to paint on marbles and stones.
He explained that unlike paper or other materials, stones are ancient elements in nature and they therefore bring a whole new dimension to the art of painting.

For the benefit of the visitors at the opening of the exhibition, Mr Cai gave a brief demonstration of paper cutting.

The displays in the exhibition are the works of many artists who are famous in their native China.