The American duo wanted to become artists and nothing was going to stop them
Front row, from left, Dorothy Yim, Wendy Ki, and Minnie Yip with their Jenga art creations.
Off the wall
Before the workshop, I did not know that there were so many forms of street art. I had this preconception that street art was just graffiti on public walls. But Cyrcle showed us that just because it's called "street art", we don't have to restrict our creativity to streets alone. The workshop was held on the 13th floor of Somerset House in Taikoo Place - not the place you would expect to see street art! But the entire office was used as a canvas. Even the building's windows and the public loading bay were turned into artworks.
Wendy Ki
Living their dream
Cyrcle's workshop helped people become more familiar with street art.
Rabi and Leavitt made up their minds that they wanted to be artists when they were very young. And even with no family support or money, they never thought of giving up. They had a dream, and they were going to do anything and everything to make it come true.
Rabi's advice to aspiring artists? "Be ready to fail."
"And get back up," David quickly adds, with a smile.
Cyrcle has been travelling the world for the past two years, teaching art. In Hong Kong, they helped us create an art piece made up of enormous Jenga pieces. Under the theme of "human faces", we created a collage of faces of all genders and nationalities to represent diversity in the world.
Minnie Yip
During Cyrcle's workshop, I was exposed to a unique type of artwork, and I was also encouraged to pursue my dreams.
My parents have always told me to be realistic and practical when planning for my future. They believe that taking extra-curricular activities is a waste of time, money and energy. But Cyrcle's story inspired me.
"Our greatest inspiration comes from people like you - nice, friendly and energetic youngsters," says Leavitt. Despite their family and financial troubles, Cyrcle regard creating art as their number one priority.
To sustain their livelihood without any outside support, they "create art out of trash", says Rabi. They resurrect discarded items. "This, somehow, cultivated us into innovative originals instead of copycats," says Rabi.
Cyrcle's advice to budding young artists is to be ready to face hardships. To emphasise the point, Leavitt shows off his self-designed T-shirt, which says "Try Fail, Try Fail, Try Fail ... Tryumph". This is similar to the Chinese idiom "Failure is the mother of success". In other words, valuable lessons can be learned from failure, which can help us succeed in the end.
Dorothy Yim
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