MANILA – Somber black and white photographs of the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan have been turned into pictures of hope by children who survived one of the worst storms in history, through an initiative aptly named Project Rainbow.
Initiated by Aspac Advertising the project builds on auctions off the artwork created by young Haiyan survivors who drew over photographs taken by director Sid Maderazo.
“Children have this innate sense of optimism so we used that idea and what we did was we got some black and white photos of the devastation. We got them, printed them on a big A3 size, we flew back to Tacloban about 100 days after the storm,” Aspac chief creative officer Joey Ong shared in an interview with adobo.
They then gave the children in Tacloban crayons and the photographs. Their output, Ong said, surprised him.
“Even me, I had an idea of what I wanted to come out. After seeing it, I was very surprised. It makes you feel good, at the same time it kind of inspired me to do this project,” he said.
50 artworks were put up for auction, while some were printed on cards, which were also put up for sale.
So far, the project has already raised P200,000 from the paintings and P80,000 from merchandise.
The proceeds will be used to mount a trauma rehabilitation workshop for survivors.
“The problem is still there, these kids are still very traumatized. I want to help them through the use of art,” Ong said.
