Pure Dialogue - oil on canvas by Jao Resari CLM
The brush touches the canvas with the sensitivity of the guiding hand of Jao Resari, a Columban lay missionary in Taiwan. Slowly, but surely the colourful tattoos adorning the sunken chest of a motionless man appear. The protruding bones and arteries depict a neck connecting a hairless head with the stillness of diminished energy.
An open mouth gasps like a fish deprived of its life-sustaining water. The brush then concentrates on the loving fingers of tender touch massaging a sense of care and hope that challenges the loneliness of abandonment.
Jao calls her work Pure Dialogue. Stillness and isolation envelop two men. One weak and limp, the other strong, but sharing the strength of tender touch giving the comfort of companionship at the loneliest of times.
Listed as Jhoanna in the register of the Philippine parish where she was baptised and known to her friends and those among whom she works as Jao, her art is an expression of her experience among those living with the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS and bears the brunt of the prejudice of a fearful and excluding society.
Looking back, she describes her 15 years as a lay missionary as “a voyage into a world not dreamed of.” A world where she has developed her art as an expression of the struggle of those she never dreamed of being among.
A growing sensitivity to the power of touch as a form of dialogue that goes beyond the word and rationale of normal communication, she paints as a gentle, subtle way of telling the alienated they are not alone.
The theme reappears in a charcoal sketch of two men smiling happily in a work titled, I was blind, but because of you, I can see. As with her other works, this sketch has a story. Trust is difficult for people shunned by society and living with the abandonment of rejection.
“But there are magic moments,” Jao explains. “A friendship developed between two men, one of whom was blind. The magic is expressed in their smiles, as the guiding touch and hand won trust translating into pure joy touched me deeply.”
While the stories of destructed lives, lost hope and rejection can bring a tear to the eye, Jao insists that humanity is never dead and the many wonders of the unexpected are worth celebrating in both the mind and the imagination.
She sketches a young woman in the posture of prayer, but with the eyes of one dreaming. “She and her son had stayed at the shelter for some time,” Jao explains. “But the mother eventually decided that for the sake of the little child it would be better to give him up for adoption. To me, her posture is of one Dreaming of a Better Tomorrow,” rather than an utterance in supplication.
Today, Jao spends time in advocacy for those living in the dark world of HIV/AIDS. “In Taiwan, the stigma is really strong,” she says. “But they are people with dreams, hopes and aspirations for life in much the same way as everybody else.”
She reflects on her own journey. Moving from her native Philippines to Taiwan left her with much to learn. There was the challenge of language and years grappling with the mysteries of Mandarin.
“For the first time in my life I was in a country where Catholics are just a tiny minority,” she recalls. “People asked me a lot of questions about what a lay missionary is. However, I have learned over time that living close to people whom society has rejected says more to me about what it means to live the faith I grew up in. I am happy with my vocation as a layperson.”
Today, as part of the Agape Centre founded by the local diocese, Jao works to raise awareness about prevention of HIV/AIDS, saying this is an apostolate in which the Church should be involved. She encourages people to understand more about the sickness and to reach out to the afflicted, as prejudice and discrimination is not a constructive response to something that impacts on the whole of society.
Jao’s dream for a better tomorrow is reflected in the many movements of her artistic hand. In a young girl running carefree in the park, in the posture of a baby cradled in its mother’s arms or in the serene gaze of a child in a stranger's grasp. It is a search for the freedom of the soul. Jao describes it as a contentment found only in lying open to receiving the love and blessing God puts on offer.
She expresses this on canvas as a young woman Floating Free. “Getting to know God is like being in the abyss of deep waters,” she reflects. “We feel it when people open their hearts and take away the boundaries of prejudice.”
Magic in dreaming of a journey from wonder to wisdom.
Columban Fr Jim Mulroney resides in Essendon.
Listen to "Magic moments on canvas"
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - March 2021
- Watch "Meet a Columban - Jao Resari"
