PHILIPPINES: Disabled artists in the Philippines paint with mouth and feet.

Record ID: 749971

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Disabled artists in the Philippines paint with mouth and feet.
  • Date: 31st July 2009
  • Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (RECENT) (REUTERS) DULNUAN'S PAINTING OF MOTHER AND CHILD DULNUAN PAINTING IN AUDITORIUM PEOPLE WATCHING DULNUAN PAINT (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERALDINE RUIZ, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNCIL ON DISABILITY AFFAIRS, SAYING: "If you give the artist the chance, the chance to blossom, the chance to develop and the chance to show the world what he's got, that g
  • Embargoed: 15th August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: Health,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAC9VBNI0T93K86154M8ZFEDH02
  • Story Text: Filipino artists with disabilities paint landscapes and still life portraits using their feet and mouth to make a living.
    A diving accident paralysed Jovy Sasutona (pronounced Sah-soo-toh-na) from the neck down when he was 17.
    He's always loved to paint, but it was his disability from a spinal cord injury that cultivated his talent.
    Sasutona has been painting with his mouth for 24 years, and has mastered the technique, painstakingly burnishing the details of his still lifes. Sometimes he paints from his bed, lying down.
    His brush size and movement may be limited by his disability, but his imagination is boundless.
    "It's a big deal, how painting has rebuilt my broken dreams. This is what I love doing, and this is where it all came together. I can't deny that I still have personal problems, but they disappear when I paint," Sasutona said.
    He and five other painters comprise the Philippine chapter of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists or AMFPA, which has 726 members in 74 countries.
    AMFPA artists in the Philippines receive a monthly stipend of 460-1,850 U.S. dollars and the organisation commissions their oil, watercolor and acrylic paintings and prints them in greeting cards and calendars.
    Foot painter Amado Dulnuan (pronounced Dool-noo-an) has spent more than two decades as a foot painter, and he was able to build a house and send his two daughters to college, thanks to his stipend.
    Born without upper limbs, 52-year-old Dulnuan has grown nimble with his feet. He can move his materials with no assistance.
    "With my condition, I think this is the easiest kind of job. The brush is light to use, and you only need your imagination, and your feet," Dulnuan said.
    The financial independence the artists enjoy is rare in the Philippines, where government support for persons with disabilities (PWD's) is limited.
    The money also helps the artists cope with medical bills, as their frail physical conditions require numerous surgeries.
    John Roland Feruelo (pronounced fehr-weh-lo), the association's newest member, said he is proud to be a bread winner. He worked as a draftsman in a mapping agency until a pool accident paralysed him 20 years ago.
    He tried selling fruits and running for township politics, but art turned out to be his cup of tea.
    "This is how I can continue on despite my suffering. My philosophy is, 'whatever it is that we have left, we must enrich,'" he said.
    Feruelo, 44, said working as an artist not only restored his dignity but also earned the respect of his wife Marivic. They have been together for 10 years.
    "He earns on his own, he can support a family. So my respect for him grew, and our relationship was strengthened," Marivic said.
    There are nearly one million persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the Philippines, around 136,000 of whom are either paraplegic, quadriplegic or have lost a limb.
    Institutions for disabled persons around the Philippines offer art classes and other vocational courses to give PWDs employment opportunities.
    "If you give the artist the chance, the chance to blossom, the chance to develop and the chance to show the world what he's got, that gives him the signal that he is accepted in society. That gives him the signal that he is being credited for his ability and he is not being judged because of his disability," said Geraldine Ruiz, head of the National Council for Disability Affairs.
    The foot and mouth artists are hoping to find a bigger market for their paintings, so their association can support more PWD's with artistic inclinations.
    Their paintings cost 6,500 to 30,000 pesos each (135-625 U.S. dollars).
    ENDS.
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