Update on Lily Yeh: Barefoot Artist

I have been using the power of art to rebuild community,

bring hope, bring resources, to bring joy, to bring color

but the artist part of me has longed for a long time

to just have a place just for the sake of creating beauty.

~ Lily Yeh, The Barefoot Artist

I first wrote about China-born Lily Yeh, founder of Barefoot Artists, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that uses art to transform impoverished communities, in November 2009 (read the post). Recently, I learned that the documentary about Lily Yeh, The Barefoot Artist, has completed filming and is now in post-production and seeking support to bring out the film.

Below is a preview of the documentary, which develops a complete portrait of  how Lily Yeh evolved as an artist and as a citizen of the world, building community by using art as its foundation. Not only a marvelous artist, Lily Yeh is an extraordinary human being whose work has touched, and continues to touch, many, many lives. Although Lily Yeh lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, her real home is wherever need for social change is born.

You know, with me, [with] my parks and gardens

it's always about creating the dustless world,

where things are very tranquil, pristine, the forces are

dynamic but balanced; it's transparent. . . and I  think

the reason I keep on going to places . . . broken places

[with] broken people, broken promises. . . anything that's broken

somehow gives room for a new possibility to create

and recreate that dustless place. . . . 

The Barefoot Artist, trailer from The Barefoot Artist on Vimeo.

The film's directors are Glenn Holsten and Daniel Traub.

You will find additional resources about Lily Yeh in my original post mentioned above. 

The Rwanda Healing Project, Gisenyi, Rwanda (Clip from Documentary)

Dandelion School Transformation Project, Beijing, China (5-Minute Clip from The Barefoot Artist)

The Barefoot Artist Movie on FaceBook