Autistic artist to receive honorific title

A local artist from the community is set to be awarded an honorific title of merit on Wednesday by the local government.

Leong Ieng Wai, who draws city landscapes, has launched two souvenirs at the Macao Arts Festival and has held an exhibition at the local airport.

The award Leong will receive is to commend those who have made contributions to the reputation, development or social progress of the SAR.

The autistic artist is also known as 0.38, which refers to the thickness of the pen he likes to use in his meticulous strokes and clear compositions. He has been enrolled in Fu Hong Society of Macau for some six years now.

According to the director of the association, Jennifer Chau, the award also serves as an encouragement to the parents of children with intellectual disabilities and students enrolled in the association.

“I think at this time, he does not quite understand yet because he does not have any idea about awards. But I think after the day he gets the award, he will be very happy and he can experience what is happening,” Chau told TDM.

“I think these stories tell about the power of disabilities and it also gives confidence to parents as they have hope even if their child is without any language or cannot express their emotions,” she added.

Chau began to recruit teachers to help fine tune Leung’s technique when they discovered his talent in drawing.

“Afterwards we think that drawing is quite meaningful because autistic [children] have a special visual talent. When you see his picture, you can see the angles are very special,” said Chau.

Chau also hoped that the community would have more resources to provide a platform where they could express themselves in different ways including music, drama and art.