Knowing Selective Mutism Through Art
“Art is not what you see but what you make others see”
- Edgar Degas
Often, we describe art as an escape from reality but we forget that art is the reality and whether you are an artist or an observer, art fills the void that resides deep inside you with a plethora of emotions. And those artists who discover this reality at a very early age, we at ArtsPositive call them, Young Changemakers.
One such young creative mind is Pei Si Wong, a graduate in Digital Animation from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, who has recently completed her animated short “Silence Is Not Golden” to raise awareness about Selective Mutism. Putting it in lucid language, Selective Mutism is a complex childhood anxiety disorder when a child is unable to communicate in social gatherings.
“I had no idea of Selective Mutism until I met my friend Nigel”, remembers Pei Si. “The first time I saw Nigel was in 2010 when we were attending Buddhist Fellowship Youth session. I tried to talk to him but he was unable to respond.” Unfortunately Nigel Ng Qin Wei was suffering from Selective Mutism.
Many moons passed before Pei Si again met Nigel in 2016 and this time their friendship started to grow quietly. “I came to know that Nigel has written and published his autobiography and when I read his book, I was moved,” Pei Si says. In his autobiography “Silence Is Not Golden”, which later became the title of Pei Si’s film, Nigel shared his world with others. Nigel was a young boy when he was first diagnosed with Selective Mutism. There were challenges at every stage of his life. But he never gave up.
Reading this book Pei Si was convinced that her final year project would be an animated film about her dear friend Nigel and how he overcame the setbacks brought through Selective Mutism. Her mission is to tell the world that the struggle in Selective Mutism is real. She hopes to showcase the film at festivals, exhibitions and other events to reach out to more and more people across the globe. From the book to animation, she has already moved one step closer to her mission and fortunately in this journey she is not alone. “While I was making the film, Nigel was there to guide me frame by frame,” Pei Si smiles.
Often we tend to judge others very fast but Pei Si showed us being a little understanding can bring a phenomenal change in the life of others. With the power of her art, she puts forward the message of solidarity and how our little actions can be a ray of hope in the lives of people in need.
Writer Neha Yeshvi for ArtsPositive
