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AUTISTIC SHOWCASE EXTRAORDINARY TALENT
SHAH ALAM - Children with autism frequently struggle to communicate and identify their feelings that can result in tantrums makes an autistic girl expresses her emotions and feelings by drawing and uses it as a tool of communication.
It was in a solo exhibition that Wan Jamila Wan Shaiful or professionally known as Artjamila showcase her artwork which was in conjunction with on 2nd April 2022, Galeri Shah Alam collaborated with Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam.
The exhibition was officiated by Her Royal Highness of Selangor Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin on 29 March 2022 to 15 April 2022 at the Creative Media Technology Hub in UiTM Shah Alam.
Jamila was appointed as an ‘Impact Artist’ for Viatalenta Foundation in Switzerland for sea pollution awareness and climate change.
(Source: Facebook/Artjamila)
Jamila is an autistic girl, and this exhibition shows Jamila's life journey from childhood where she only drew by simply expressing her feelings and was able to polish this extraordinary talent by her own mother.
Artjamila’s artwork where she expresses all of her emotion in one canvas.
(Source: Facebook/Artjamila)
The journey began when she was four years old where she doodled the moments that she experienced.
Today, she paints historical moments while relating them to current issues such as climate change, sea pollution, world peace, the COVID-19 pandemic, and environmental sustainability with simple, not hard to understand and unsophisticated pieces. In other words, naive art.
Her art is created entirely from her soul, and she has evolved a distinct personal art style that conveys information, examples, and awareness of current events through emotional contact.
According to Syafiqah Zainal, 29, Assistant Curator of Galeri Shah Alam, stated that the number of visitors that come during the exhibitions are around 300 to 400 visitors including VVIP, VIP, public and students.
“Each person must identify the strengths and advantages that they have. Try to focus and polish existing talent.
“Autism is not a disadvantage and can be an advantage if parents can identify the talents their child has. So, with this exhibition, we can open the eyes of the public and change the perspective of this autistic child,” said Syafiqah during an interview with Berita DIMENSi via WhatsApp.
The exhibition not only focuses on the artwork from Jamila, but they also show various poems from Jemima Shaiful, who is Jamila’s sister and known as a poetry writer that is closely related with the artwork.
As someone who really likes to go to art exhibitions, Nurshazwani Mohd Helmi, 22, a student in Bachelor of Applied Art and Design at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), stated that this solo exhibition was magnificent, and it was great to see an artist like her thriving and being able to speak her mind in that manner.
“In my own opinion it is actually very beneficial to go to art exhibitions as it gives us the opportunity to explore the emotion of the artist.
“Sometimes, I can even actually feel like I’m inside the painting discovering what the artist is trying to say and express,” said Nurshazwani during an interview with Berita DIMENSi via WhatsApp.
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