By Cai Ju, Clearwisdom Correspondent

(Clearwisdom.net) From July 6 to 8, 2005, people walking in and out the Manhattan Federal Building could not miss an eye-catching poster about the "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance" International Art Exhibition.

The "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance" International Art Exhibition was held for three days in the Federal Building. It was cooperatively held by the US Eastern Falun Dafa Association and the Falun Dafa Practitioner Art Center. The federal building hosts 8,000 federal government employees and is located in an important place between the New York City Government and courts.

The exhibition was held in a 4,000 square foot hall. More than 40 traditional Chinese paintings and 3 sculptures were exhibited. There were four sections in the painting exhibition, Assimilation to Dafa and Returning to Our True Selves, Life Witness and Righteous Belief Forever, Spreading the Truth and Calling for Justice, and Retribution and Justice. The light in the hall was bright. The Buddha sculpture was placed facing the entrance. Large paintings on the left showed the grace of Falun Dafa. The paintings on the right exposed the persecution in China. A total of ten paintings depicted the brutal torture against practitioners in China.

On the morning of July 6, an opening ceremony was held.

Practitioner Levi Browde, represented the US Eastern Falun Dafa Association, gave the first speech and emphasized that real stories are portrayed in the art exhibition. Facing the China state machinery's systemic brutal persecution, Falun Gong practitioner artists demonstrated the might and dignity of righteous belief through their art.

James Aldon, Chairman of the National Art Club, then gave a speech. He said that the National Art Club twice held the "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance" Art Exhibition and received several intimidating phone calls. Based on freedom of artistic expression, Mr. Aldon insisted on having the scheduled exhibition, which was welcomed by local residents. In his speech, Mr. Aldon highly praised the art level of the practitioner artists and expressed his pleasure with Falun Gong practitioners.

Chairman of National Art Club James Aldon gives speech

Artist Li Yuan gives speech

Artist Professor Zhang Kunlun from Canada and artist Li Yuan from Japan, representing the artists, also gave speeches. Prof. Zhang expressed his appreciation to the host organization and pointed out that the inspiration for artists came from their personal experience and the brutal persecution occurring in China. The paintings expressed the artists' respect and admiration to god and Buddha, their personal cultivation experience and practitioners' uncompromising courage in the face of brutal persecution. Prof. Zhang mentioned his personal experience of being imprisoned, beaten, shocked with electric batons and subjected to brainwashing in China.

The three-day exhibition opened after the ribbon cutting ceremony.

The exhibition received congratulatory letters from three New York State Assemblymen and a proclamation praising the exhibition from the New York city council. A representative of State Senator Serphin Maltese said in his speech that the paintings moved, inspired and encouraged him, even though he did not know much about Falun Dafa.

In the morning, staff working in the building viewed the exhibition and said that they would tell their colleagues and come back during their break. Some people came with the exhibition flyer. Everyone was shocked at the brutality of the persecution. They expressed sympathy for the victims, felt it inconceivable that it would occur in the contemporary era and wished it would end immediately. Everyone said that the paintings were graceful and vivid. Many of the visitors did not know about Falun Gong but came to know more from talking to a guide. Some even asked for locations of practice sites and wanted to learn the practice.

There was a similar exhibition scheduled in April this year in the same building that was cancelled for various reasons. Practitioners shared their views and looked inside for shortcoming and attachments. At the same time, they explained the facts of Falun Gong and the persecution to officials in the building, and described the support of Falun Gong from the US government and people.

With the support of all practitioners' righteous thoughts, staff of the building accepted the application of the Falun Dafa Art Center and cooperated actively to host the exhibition.

Posting date: 7/11/2005
Original article date: 7/11/2005
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/7/8/105702.html

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