[News Terms] Art Exhibition ‘Artpara’ by World Developmental Disability Painters

The World's Only Exhibition of Artists with Developmental Disabilities
Scheduled to be Held Every 2 Years in Summer and Winter Paralympics

‘Art Para’ is the name of an exhibition that brings together works by artists with developmental disabilities from around the world. It is an abbreviation of Art Paralympic. Just as the Olympics unite people through sports, this exhibition aims to be a cultural Olympics that unites people through art. The “Para” in Art Para means “beside, alongside, together,” embodying the hope that people with and without disabilities, as well as art and healing, will harmonize.

In celebration of the 2024 Paris Paralympics, the “Paris Art Para” exhibition held in Paris, France, showcased 100 works by 80 artists from 27 countries across 5 continents. This largest-ever exhibition runs for ten days from the 2nd to the 11th (local time). The exhibition’s theme, “Brillons Ensemble, Shine Together,” signifies that the works of artists with developmental disabilities, which capture the pure beauty of human nature, will shine brightly in the world.

Works by artists with developmental disabilities showcased at the exhibition
[Photo by Jangaein gwa Odaeryuk Chingudeul]

Art Para was first held in 2017 at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, followed by events commemorating the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympics and UNESCO headquarters, and the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics this January. This is the fourth time the event has been held. Notably, Art Para is known to be the only exhibition that gathers works by artists with developmental disabilities from around the world in one place. Art Para is scheduled to be held every two years in conjunction with the Summer and Winter Paralympics, including the 2026 Milan Winter Paralympics.

Kim Geun-tae, the planner of Art Para, also contributed 25 works to this exhibition. Kim said, “The works of artists with developmental disabilities contain a completely new perspective on the world,” adding, “The purpose is to present these beautiful works, which shine like light, to global citizens attending the Paralympic festival.” Kim Geun-tae led the founding of the nonprofit organization Friends of People with Disabilities and Five Continents, which organized this exhibition in 2008. Since the 2015 exhibition at the UN headquarters in New York, the organization has held various international exhibitions.

Artist Kim Geun-tae presenting his work at the opening ceremony of the 4th Art Parra held in Paris, France
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Kim was born in 1957 in Gwangju. As a sophomore at Chosun University’s College of Fine Arts, he participated in the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement and later became visually and hearing impaired due to an unfortunate traffic accident. In 1990, while living at a facility for people with disabilities on Goha Island in Mokpo, he made developmental disabilities his lifelong focus. Through painting people with developmental disabilities, he discovered the light of pure humanity and beauty within them, and planned Art Para to share this light more widely. He received the 2020 Korea Culture and Arts Award for his work “Like Wildflowers, Like Stars,” which connects 77 canvases of size 100, symbolizing the canvas as a musical score and people with developmental disabilities as musical notes.

Meanwhile, the opening ceremony of Paris Art Para on the 2nd was attended by OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann, Ambassador Choi Sang-dae of the OECD Korea Delegation, and ambassadors from 30 countries participating in the exhibition. Yoo In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, sent a congratulatory video message saying, “I hope that audiences from around the world will feel the aesthetic sensibility of artists with disabilities in Paris, the birthplace of art, and that this will be a time of harmony beyond the boundaries of disability and nationality.”