Murals for a Brighter Future: Miyazaki Kensuke / Artist

"Direct Talk"

Our guest today is artist Miyazaki Kensuke.

Miyazaki has painted murals around the world.

The locations are mainly in regions

where people are suffering from poverty and conflict.

In 2017,

he created a mural in Mariupol, Ukraine

with the hope that it would become a symbol of world peace.

But then in 2022,

that hope was shattered with Russia's military invasion of Ukraine.

Still, Miyazaki is determined to continue doing

what only artists can.

He shares his thoughts on painting.

Murals for a Brighter Future

The basic theme of my work is "super happy."

I want to make people happy the instant they see my paintings.

Initially, I was a little embarrassed to say that out loud.

I was hesitant.

But at some point I went, you know what, who cares?

"Happy" isn't going to cut it.

My work should be "super happy."

Miyazaki has painted over 50 murals

across 11 countries and regions,

including Kenya, East Timor and Ukraine.

I go to places where I feel like something bright and cheerful

would make a difference in the local people's lives.

My main goal is to bring some positivity to their lives,

even if it's just a little.

In 2018,

Miyazaki worked with the inmates at a women's prison in Ecuador

to paint a wall blooming with flowers.

Flowers are a recurring motif in his work.

When a flower blooms in nature,

it's brimming with vitality.

It symbolizes this incredibly positive thing called

the birth of life.

So I wanted to incorporate flowers into the mural.

Many of the inmates who participated saw the project

as a way to change, to turn over a new leaf.

When the mural was completed, they all burst into tears.

I could tell that the experience had brought them genuine joy,

and that made me happy that I started this project.

In 2017,

Miyazaki traveled to the city of Mariupol in Ukraine.

He'd been approached by the UN's refugee agency

to paint murals in the country.

At the time, the area adjacent to Mariupol

was effectively controlled by pro-Russia armed forces.

Many people had come to Mariupol seeking refuge.

It was a tense situation,

with the potential for fighting to erupt at any time.

While I was there, you would sometimes hear shelling at night

depending on where you were.

It was that kind of place.

The idea was that it would send a stronger message

if we put the mural in a location close to the border

near the conflict zone.

So we painted the mural on a school wall

about two kilometers from the border.

The motif came from a picture book called "The Mitten,"

which Miyazaki had loved as a child.

It's the tale of a group of animals

that huddle together inside a lost mitten

to stay warm on a snowy winter's day.

The book is based on a Ukrainian folktale.

At the time, Mariupol was welcoming refugees

from places like Luhansk and Donetsk,

and there was this feeling of everyone coming together.

That really fit with my concept for the mural,

so I wanted the painting to promote that idea as well.

Miyazaki worked on the mural together with

local citizens and refugees.

We depicted Easter eggs on top of the mitten

which are kept warm by the people.

Birds of hope hatch and fly away.

The symbol of Mariupol is the seagull.

So I painted a seagull as a representation

of our collective hope for peace.

As an artist, I'm just a temporary visitor at these places.

But the local people will continue to live

alongside the mural for a long time.

So it's better that the painting means something to them.

When it was completed, many people told me that

they hoped others might see the mural

and think twice about attacking this place.

We talked about how we all wanted it

to become a symbol for peace.

But unfortunately, it was not to be.

In February 2022,

Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine.

Mariupol has suffered grave damage,

forcing many residents to evacuate.

The mural on the school wall has also been hit by the shelling.

This picture was taken in March.

It's unclear if the wall is currently still standing.

When I first saw the news that Russia had begun to attack,

it came as a surprise.

I was shocked.

What we did with this project in Ukraine,

the theme of the work was peace and coexistence.

So the fact that the opposite is happening,

that this place is being destroyed,

makes me feel angry

and also empty and helpless.

Miyazaki, who's currently in Japan,

says he's concerned for the safety of the people

who helped him complete the mural.

His career as an artist began in 2004

when he moved to London after finishing his master's

at a graduate school of art.

But one week after he arrived,

he lost all of his belongings to a burglary.

With no connections to speak of,

he had a difficult time finding his footing as an artist.

I didn't have a place where I could have my work seen.

That was a big problem.

But then I had this acquaintance who did live painting performances.

There were many venues for that in London.

They invited me to come and paint.

I'd never really done anything like that before,

but after that, I would go every week to these venues and paint live.

It felt like I was at the bottom of the social ladder,

clinging to painting and somehow getting by.

In a way, that's what I'd envisioned being a painter would be like.

So I was trying to crawl my way up from there.

Around two years after moving to London,

Miyazaki saw something on TV that would change his life.

It was a documentary about a school in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.

Miyazaki was moved by the children's eagerness to learn

despite their harsh circumstances.

He approached the principal directly about his desire

to paint murals for the school.

He hoped that his paintings could bring some joy

to the local people's lives.

I wanted to create something that would make an impression.

It was a long wall,

so I painted a dragon, a huge one,

about 20 meters long.

I'd been working on that for about three weeks,

when one day the principal said that

a parent had come up to him that morning with a menacing look.

Apparently, the painting looked like an anaconda,

an animal they hated, and it was making kids scared to go to school.

It sounded like it was pretty bad,

and I agreed to scrap it. So I covered it up.

I asked the kids what they wanted me to paint,

what they weren't afraid of.

They wanted a lion and baobab trees.

Miyazaki had one week to paint something completely different.

In order to finish the mural in time,

he asked the local children for help.

I asked them to help me paint.

And then others would see us and realize they could join in too.

So more and more kids started to paint with us.

It created this sense that they were making this mural for themselves.

The kids started to warm up to me,

and I started to see a change in them.

Many of the kids had experienced abuse or were street children.

The kids painting with me were often in low spirits.

One day, I told this one kid that he was doing great.

The next day when he showed up, he had a completely changed attitude.

He'd come show me his work,

and he started to put more effort into his studies and into sports.

People told me that I'd accomplished something

that no amount of money could do,

that I was making a difference.

So that experience really left a big impression on me.

Ever since, Miyazaki paints his murals

together with the local people.

In 2015 he launched "Over the Wall,"

a project funded by sponsor businesses and organizations.

The project supports the creation of murals in areas

affected by poverty and conflict.

But these days, he's especially concerned

about the situation in Mariupol, Ukraine.

Wanting to do something to raise awareness of what was going on,

he decided to paint a sequel to his Mariupol mural.

I call it "The Mariupol Seagull."

I painted a seagull protecting the people inside a mitten,

the people who value peace and coexistence.

People taking shelter inside a mitten,

being watched over by a seagull spreading its wings.

He depicted the return of this symbol of Mariupol,

which he had shown taking flight in the original mural.

I struggled quite a bit with this one

because my paintings are all about "super happy."

I'd made it a rule not to paint anything negative.

But with this painting,

I knew I couldn't do that.

I couldn't just paint a completely happy picture.

So I included scenes of the war-torn city,

and made it so there was a sense of hope for the future

in the painting.

On this day, Miyazaki introduced us to a special guest.

Svitlana Koshel, a Mariupol native.

She's one of the people who helped out with Miyazaki's mitten mural.

With his help, she's now in Japan as an evacuee.

We asked her for her thoughts on "The Mariupol Seagull."

I see on the left part of this picture,

the war like it is, with bombing, with dark colors.

And it is, you know...

On the one hand, you feel just very, very deeply sad

because such things happen in the world.

And on the other hand, you have much hope

because a seagull is protecting that place

and you're feeling like it will come one day,

and everything will be okay.

I want war to stop as soon as possible.

It's my greatest wish for now.

And peace come again.

Hoping to get his paintings in front of more people,

Miyazaki recently held a solo exhibition in Tokyo.

As it stands now,

I don't know if we will be able to return to Mariupol anytime soon.

But I look forward to the day.

I want to work with the Ukrainian people again

to channel our message of peace into art.

So I'll prepare for that day.

(Do you have any words to live by?)

"Initiative and courage don't require talent."

I don't consider myself to be particularly blessed in terms of talent.

But when I wanted something that would give me an edge,

I realized initiative and courage are not about talent.

More than that, they're about a strong will.

So I want to keep these things as my strengths.

When I find myself being passive or negative,

I remind myself of these words

and the fact that this is what's gotten me this far.

So this is how I get myself fired up.