An environmental painter in Austria has, with lots of colour and exuberance, enhanced the lives of children in Hong Kong. Forty-three paintings offering a bright new vision of the city have been on exhibition around town. Through a private auction $88,100 was raised for a local school that specialises in working with autistic children.

The paintings are the handiwork of local students, steered by Anna Tam and her team at the Colour My World art studio. Anna’s passion is to use art to help awaken an awareness of the environment and the community in which we live. Key to her vision is the extraordinary work of Hundertwasser, the artist and architect who has been responsible for transforming many of Austria’s public buildings into magical places. He reinvented a dull housing district into what Anna calls: “an unimaginable dream-like space” with trees bursting from curling balconies amongst vividly coloured patchworks and golden domes. His buildings seem to come alive ñ an expression of his wish for cities and nature to flourish together in a vibrant integration.

The young artists were invited to become similar Environmental Doctors’ for Hong Kong. They responded eagerly to Hundertwasser’s imagination. After agreeing on the importance of nature as our habitat, they took to the task of refreshing’ the city from North Point to the Harbour. Working with acrylic, ink and collage, children from 3 to 14 years of age opened up a kaleidoscope of possibilities on their canvases. Monochrome towers of steel and glass were replaced with intricate mosaic homes and roof gardens, roads were forested and the sky became a psychedelic swirl of patterns and glowing colours.

The outcome more than matched Colour My World’s objective ñ to provide a stimulating environment for children of all abilities to express them-selves and develop their self-worth. However many children with social, mental or physical difficulties have little opportunity to use art facilities in Hong Kong due to a lack of resources. So the Environmental Doctors project’ took one more step to help benefit this area of our community. After the paintings went on show, an art auction was held and the funds were given to The Children’s Institute of Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation set up by Jill Samelson providing quality education for children with learning difficulties. All in all, the venture succeeded spectacularly in linking the members of our community in a supportive and playful interdependence. And, for one group of budding young artists, it ignited their ability to revision the world.