Murals for grandmother

Images of the Formosan black bear and various cartoons including “My Neighbor Totoro”, “Rubber Duck” and “Doraemon” all feature in the murals. Attracting large groups of visitors from far and wide who eagerly scramble to take snapshots beside the cute cartoon icons, the little village of Hujian in Tainan’s Shanhua District has been incredibly busy recently after being transformed with an ocean of vivid colors.

The original idea for the colored murals came from three local sisters who were worried about their grandmother getting lonely at home. They picked up some paintbrushes and began painting a range of cute colored images on the previously monotonous brick walls. This stirred the rest of the village into action and triggered a complete makeover of the village, the residents of which are almost all elderly people. The three sisters used their vacation time to do the painting, beginning each time they returned to their grandmother’s in Shanhua – as the murals gradually increased the girls slowly began painting neighbors’ walls too.

Relying on local residents to do the painting, in recent years communities decorated with colored murals have been on the increase. This activity not only lifts community spirit and increases the camaraderie between individual members in the community, but also strengthens the identity of the area. 

Murals for grandmother

URL:https://www.peopo.org/news/250691

(以下是中文對照)

外婆家的彩繪

台灣黑熊、龍貓、黃色小鴨、小叮噹等卡通人物通通入鏡，位在台南善化鄉下一個小村落胡家里，最近非常的熱鬧，假日來自各地的大批遊客，爭相在可愛的卡通人物牆面前拍照留念，台南善化胡家里變身美麗彩繪村。

彩繪村源起於三位姊妹，怕一個人住在老家的外婆孤單，於是拿起油漆彩繪了原本單調的牆面，繽紛可愛的彩色圖案，讓社區全體總動員，重新改造了只有老人居住的社區，三姊妹都是利用放假的時候，回到台南善化外婆家彩繪，一開始先從外婆家的圍牆開始畫，後來才慢慢畫到附近鄰居家。

近年來彩繪社區越來越多，透過社區居民親自美化居住的環境，不但凝聚社區向心力，還有人與人之間彼此合作的情誼，加深對這塊土地的認同感。