news source: <Rehabilitation News Network>

Last year's landslide dam overflow severely damaged Guangfu Township in Hualien City. The flood not only destroyed homes but also left a deep impression on residents and children. In the aftermath, in addition to the various sectors involved in cleanup and reconstruction efforts, the artistic forces from academia also entered the community, using their art to help children overcome trauma. The results of an art therapy course jointly organized by the College of Arts of National Dong Hwa University and Xifu Elementary School in Guangfu Township were showcased at the Songyuan Villa in Hualien City from March 9th to 15th in the exhibition "Healing Wings: Cross-Domain Artistic Performance Art," presenting the power of art to heal hearts after disaster through children's creations and stories. (Photo: Reporter Zhang Xiaojing)

Following the landslide dam overflow in Mataian in 2025, many volunteers traveled from various places to Guangfu Township to assist in the cleanup. Armed with shovels, they threw themselves into the recovery work, bringing warmth and hope to the affected residents. This shared experience remains deeply etched in the hearts of the local children. After the disaster, Professor Hsu Hsiu-Chu from National Dong Hwa University led a team of students to Xifu Elementary School in Guangfu Township. Through a series of art courses, they accompanied the students, using art as a medium for psychological healing, helping the children express their emotions, process their memories, and rediscover hope for life.

In the course, children draw upon their own life experiences and post-disaster memories to create art using recycled materials and everyday objects. Through recombination and transformation, these seemingly ordinary objects are given new artistic value and life. For the children, this is not just a creative activity, but also an important process of rediscovering themselves, processing their emotions, and imagining the future.

Dean Hsu Hsiu-Chu shared the story of Chia-Hui, a first-grade student at Hsi-Fu Elementary School, during the class. At the time, she was showing photos taken by a reporter in class, and the children suddenly recognized the scene in the photos as their own home. In the photos, the area in front of their homes was piled with garbage and mud, traces left behind by a disaster.

Hsu Hsiu-chu pointed out that children's anxiety is often not expressed intensely, but rather manifested as unusual quietness in daily life. Chia-hui once wore a mask while creating art, as if adding an extra layer of protection. She worried about others seeing her vulnerability and feared her past memories being exposed. However, through the companionship and guidance of art classes, the child gradually became more willing to open up and slowly let down her guard. When children can express themselves freely, their suppressed emotions begin to be understood and healed.

In the creative workshop, students at Xifu Elementary School used empty bottles to create "messages in bottles." Teachers provided the children with recycled glass bottles and materials, allowing them to freely doodle on paper, drawing what they wanted to say and their imagined worlds. They then rolled up their drawings and placed them inside the bottles. The artwork often featured hearts, rainbows, and various vibrant colors, like a spectrum full of hope, showcasing the children's purest emotions.

Principal Liu Fengying of Xifu Elementary School expressed her gratitude to the College of Arts at National Dong Hwa University for helping children find an outlet for their emotions after the disaster through artistic creation, and gradually rebuilding their inner strength. The exhibition presents many of the creative works created by Xifu Elementary School students in their art courses, as well as the stories behind the works, allowing the public to see how children transform the memories of disaster into creative energy through art, and also allowing the audience to feel the healing and hope that art brings in adversity.

In the exhibition, pottery teachers fired small shovels using local Hualien clay, known as "Mafu clay," and then the children of Xifu Elementary School sculpted them one by one. Each shovel retains the marks of the children's hand-shaping and has a unique appearance. The children of Xifu Elementary School chose the "small shovel" as their creative element because, in their memories of the disaster, the shovel symbolizes the scenes of volunteers and residents cleaning up their homes and rebuilding their lives—a collective memory that is deeply ingrained in them. Through this creative approach, the children transformed their memories of the disaster into artworks that symbolize hope and rebirth.

The organizers stated that they hope this exhibition will allow more people to see the stories of the post-disaster community and witness the children's gradual growth through art. They sincerely invite the public to visit Songyuan Villa to appreciate the children's sincere and imaginative works and experience the hope and power that art brings after adversity.