We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hengyue Hu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hengyue below.
Hengyue, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Since last year, I started several different self-exploration and healing projects, and interactive community based healing projects, which were all very meaningful to me. I would love to share two projects, one is interactive community based and one is more personal but also interactive.
Path of Happiness, was one of the interactive project I did after returning to my undergraduate student community in School of Visual Arts from the two years of online courses due to Covid-19. It was challenging to re-adjust the environment and re-connect with people after the isolations during Covid-19. Therefore, I initiated one interactive project each month I stayed in NYC to support myself re-connecting with the community. Interestingly and magically, my interactive projects gradually turned out to not only healing and supportive to me, and a circulation of healing and positive emotions around the community. In the Path of Happiness project, which was inspired by a childhood game Hopscotch, I invited people to create their unique marks on a sheet of Happiness (with listed things brought me happiness) if they also found those events relatable. Their unique mark is a representation of their path of happiness. I collected their happiness and used my Invitation to Happiness riso zine to exchange with them. Then, I created another riso zine, Path of Happiness to share this project and the energy and positivity I gained from this experiences of connection with people, to re-spread happiness and positivity. Gratefully and inspiringly, many participants shared that they also felt healing and happy through the process of creating their own marks, looking through the list of happiness which might remind them of their own good memories, and connection with others.
My other meaningful project, would be the healing book I created last year, Be with My Body. Inspired by CBT, EFT, and my own self-healing journey, I created this book with soft pastels on paper first, scanned and added text digitally, and then handbind it. This is a self-care journal book with illustrations and interactive activities for the readers to connect and communicate with their own body, send love and care toward their body.
Hengyue, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
During my undergraduate study at the School of Visual Arts in illustration major, I learnt and explored various mediums. And through my own self-exploration and healing journey, inspired by other artist, psychologists, therapists, etc, I realized the importance of mental health and my interest in exploring the healing effects in art. Now I continue my art-making (including bookmarking, crafting, fiber arts) in NYC and is learning to become a art therapist in the MFA art therapy program at the School of Visual Arts.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
To me, there is so much healing power in art, which help people to explore themselves and connect with each other. The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that I have art as a beautiful and powerful tool to communicate with myself, explore and express myself, and connect with others.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I believe in the healing power of art. One particular goal in my journey is to use art to help more people and deliver healing power through art. Through my healing self-care illustrated books, craft and fiber arts I created, interactive projects, and the art therapy works I’m still learning and practicing, I wish I could spread message of positivity, healing power, self-acceptance and empower more people.
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