.jpg)
By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright December 2022
This column once featured an OKU artist who was inadvertently charged by a hospital to be certified as one, is recently awarded by the same medical centre for being the most resilient patient on World Disability Day.
At a simple yet memorable ceremony, Kamarudin who is hardly able to move his arms and legs is awarded for being the most resilient in trying to rehabilitate his muscles under guidance by physiotherapists at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital Alor Setar, on 5th December.
The theme for International Day of Persons with Disabilities for 2022 is 'Not All Disabilities are Visible'.
In case of Kamaruddin his disability is visible. He can hardly move his arms and legs easily by himself. But sheer determination has helped him to make use of his fingers to paint.
His art displayed at the lobby of Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital to celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities attracted a lot of attention during the award presentation on December 5 recently.
Using a small table and a few easels, Kamaruddin and his wife with the help of doctors at the hospital managed to showcase some of his recent creative works of art. It consisted of some paintings, sketches and rock paintings.
He uses acrylic on canvas and river pebbles to produce amazing creative pieces that were sold very quickly.
He confessed that had he known they were in great demand he would have made more. But he was grateful that on a brief outing that day he was able to rake in RM1000 for his pebbles and three large paintings on canvas.
However, to Kamaruddin the money he brings in through art although helps supplement his income but it is secondary because he is more passionate about art itself.
He would spend hours daily to work on each piece using a palette knife strapped to his right palm by a gadget innovatively created by physiotherapists at the hospital just to help him paint.
One of his best painting captures a scene of a sunrise from his window in acrylic on canvas took three months to complete.
Looking at his art work some people could not believe their eyes that one who could hardly move his muscles was able to produce such incredible art pieces.
When asked how he developed his skills, he told me, "Having a previous knowledge about art, colours, choice of paints and a great deal of imagination are part of his talent" to produce such fine creative works. But he said like everything else it can be learned.
In his case his artistic skills were acquired in school when art was still a subject of choice for some students like him.
Kamaruddin is prepared to teach others to paint if they have the interest and desire to learn. He feels that physical rehabilitation need not be boring.
He feels adding art to physiotherapy may liven up the boring lives of persons with disabilities while being rehabilitated It could also add variety to an otherwise mundane technique of rehabilitation.
Besides, art has been proven to help heal and rehabilitate patients more effectively. "So why not embrace it?" He asked.
It took a disabled artist who loves art to make us realise that we still need a Ministry of Arts and Culture to help nurture our own art and culture that is unique but is rapidly being eroded away because we have placed too much emphasis on science and technology at the expense of the arts in our own school curriculum.
Mihar Dias is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav.
Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
Newswav is solely an aggregation platform and hosts the content. The views expressed and content above including media (pictures, videos, etc) were provided by the author. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.
