Not held back by a congenital condition affecting her skin and appearance, self-taught painter Cheng Mei-chu (鄭美珠) has unveiled a crowdfunded book in hopes of using her story to inspire others.
The autobiographical picture book, released at the Husi Township (湖西) Office in Penghu County on Thursday, is Cheng’s first picture book.
Cheng has congenital ichthyosis erythroderma and completed the book herself — including writing the text, drawing the pictures and designing and editing the work — and raised the funds for its publication on the crowdfunding platform FlyingV.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Taipei Times
The motivation for creating the picture book came from wanting to transform her own story into an inspiration, Cheng said.
She believes she must accept her flaws and imperfections, convert her stress into positive energy and develop her own interests and talent to live a happy and confident life, Cheng said.
There is no reason to blame others, she said, adding that people should think optimistically.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Taipei Times
The book was released in Husi Township, where Cheng lived as a child.
Cheng hopes to publish picture books depicting her time at Makung Junior High School and National Makung High School, she said.
In creating this book, she allowed memories and traditions to resurface, Cheng said.
Apart from relating the story of her childhood, this book also records an era that has passed, said Cheng, who is also chairwoman of the Penghu Art League, a non-profit organization that works to promote art from Penghu in other parts of the country and overseas — including China, Hawaii and Malaysia — and publicize the beautiful landscape found in Penghu.
Although her skin condition might cause people to look at her differently, she has not let that defeat her, but has let it motivate her, Cheng said.
Having gained some renown, Cheng seeks to give back by helping underprivileged students.
She is a doctoral candidate at Tatung University’s Graduate Institute of Design Science and gives oil painting lessons.
Cheng has been given the Presidential Education Award, a National Youth Medal from the China Youth Corps, and a Fervent Global Love of Lives Award from the Chou Ta-kuan Foundation.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS