Earlier this month Hong Kong kicked off its city-wide, genre-spanning Art March with the performing arts festival No Limits. Its promotional banners lined the Mid-Levels Escalator, one of the city’s most prominent spots, and some of its shows, like Jazz Excellence by Matthew Whitaker, took major stages. Backed by the 53rd Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) and prolific arts patron The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the festival now in its seventh edition brings to the city 12 dance, drama and film events by differently abled Hong Kong and international artists.
The polish and professionalism of No Limits is unusual for disability arts in Asia. While opportunities in the arts for people with disabilities are fast expanding, it remains at best a niche topic and largely relegated to charity, novelty, outsider art or objectified inspirations. Efforts at integration include at Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK), which since last year included a stand by the nonprofit Hong Chi Association, showing work by artists from the city’s 14 special needs schools and the broader community it supports.
No Limits’s outreach included a one-day symposium, “How Creative Considerations of Inclusivity are Transforming Asian Cities” with arts administrators from around East and Southeast Asia. Among its speakers was Angela Tan, the executive director of Singapore-based nonprofit Art:Dis, which this year exhibited at the city’s boutique fair S.E.A. Focus in January.
This year Art:Dis showed Chng Seok Tin (1946-19) a prolific multimedia artist who was honoured with Singapore’s Cultural Medallion, but who faced challenges in her work due to impaired vision following a 1986 car accident. Chng’s career before and after becoming disabled illustrates how differently abled artists are usually sidelined from mainstream success, even those professionally trained and producing compelling work.
One day, I want my artists to be at MoMA, not just in a community centre
Angela Tan, executive director Art:Dis
“Artists with disabilities don’t have to follow the charity route,” Tan says. “One day, I want my artists to be at MoMA, not just in a community centre.” Established in 1993, Art:Dis offers art education and skill-building programmes for people with disabilities. “We’ve been very intentional about exhibiting in mainstream art spaces… I want to [provide a] bridge to the arts industry and the arts ecosystem”.
Pairing art students with mentors
Art:Dis last year invited John Tung, a prominent Singapore curator, to organise the exhibition Turning Points during Singapore Art Week (SAW). It featured three differently abled artists who had participated in a mentorship programme the organisation launched in 2023. This initiative pairs promising students with professional mentors, like Tung and artist Robert Zhao for the first edition. One of the student artists, Isabelle Lim, a deaf photographer with Nager syndrome, was subsequently invited by fashion brand Uniqlo to photograph Singapore’s Paralympic athletes for its Paris T-shirt collection. Art:Dis continued the mentorship exhibition series during this year’s SAW (17-26 January), which also included another project by an artist with disabilities: Claire Teo’s multimedia installation was featured at the National Gallery Singapore’s Light to Night Festival.
Hong Kong foundation St. James’ Creation’s MusiCLAY project is specifically designed for individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders Courtesy of St. James’ Creation
The tutoring model is also central to Hong Kong foundation St James’ Creation, which has run art workshops for differently abled people since 1999. In 2020 it launched a mentorship programme aimed at training students with disabilities who have the aspiration and potential for professional artistic success.
The project derives support from Hong Kong’s Arts Development Fund for Persons with Disabilities, which was established in 2019 and initially earmarked a one-off HK$250m ($32m) to support disability arts, including fine art, performance and design. St James’ Creation recruits four established artists to mentor 12 students. “The idea behind it is to help our students advance their artistic practices,” says Karpo Tang, the arts development manager at St James’ Creation. A resulting exhibition in May is in the planning stages. “We want [the artists] to discover their own style and voice, based on their personal interests and characteristics.”
That sense of self-discovery is appealing for amateur disabled artists as well, says the Hong Chi Association, which is one of the largest non-profits in Hong Kong. The association “believes that art —whether visual, performing, or craft— is an inclusive form of expression not defined by the artists’ physical or intellectual abilities”, says Sunny Tong, Hong Chi’s communications officer.
The group has for decades used art as an educational aid for people with intellectual disabilities. “It can also open new horizons for them by taking them on a stage where they could shine and excel,” says Tong. At Art Basel Hong Kong last year the included artists and their families and caregivers “were awestruck to see their works displayed at the event”. The presentation also fostered a deeper understanding of their unique experiences, contributing to a more inclusive dialogue within the art community.
Nevertheless, the understanding has a long way to go. “Now the art world is much more conscious about diversity — we need to show more female artists, more artists of colour. But where are the artists with disabilities?” Tan says. The broad, intersectional nature of disability paradoxically makes it hard to organise around, and stigmas still linger even in the supposedly open art world. “It’s something that needs to be more intentional in people’s consciousness too.”
