Maia Chung’s cancer cause
SHE is a well-known media personality who has championed the cause for autism over a number of years, but today she’s also giving her all for cancer patients through her artwork.
Maia Chung told All Woman that this newfound hobby turned business — Maia Chung Artworks — began in October 2015 when she sat outside her mother’s chemotherapy treatment room, after close to two years of watching her battle colorectal cancer.
“My inspiration came from her illness. I’m a positive person, and as with the autism foundation, instead of sitting, weeping and gnashing my teeth, I thought, let me explore something I always wanted to do,” she said. “I decided to explore this art thing that I’ve never been trained for, but my mother had been trained for, so I wanted to give her this beauty for ashes and lift both our spirits.”
Chung pointed out that delving into this career — visual art and photography — was not particularly difficult, as she had previously left her job to care for her mother and had seen her move through the different stages of the disease.
To make a bad situation worse, her father was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly after her mother’s death, and lost his battle that same year.
As if that was not enough, Chung also lost her grandmother to cancer quite recently, following a diagnosis in April.
“I was my mother’s legs, her hands and her voice when she became progressively weaker, and I praise God we could have those moments, as that’s what keeps me going spiritually and emotionally. Through my art I want to let their lives and sufferings mean something. It helps me to see that even in the ugliest thing there is beauty,” she shared.
Profits from Maia Chung’s Artworks, which is managed by her sons Sinquain and Wickham Smith, go towards cancer hospices and her autism foundation.
“I can’t cure cancer, and each individual, no matter what cancer they have, has a different journey. My mom was the managing director of the autism foundation and she had to demit that while battling the disease. When I started doing art I decided that if I’m profiting from this, it should help. Cancer must benefit autism. The purpose of the business is to be aggressive and do everything we can for people in the same shoes,” Chung said.
She also started a Facebook group called Maia Chung’s Cancer Conversations to help people express their grief and try to cope.
Chung has sold over three dozen pieces and has even won two awards of merit for photography and visual arts in the national competition put on by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission. She currently has some of her pieces on display at the Jamaica Conference Centre.
She has also been part of various exhibitions including the Liguanea Art Fair, and has secured corporate sponsorship from the MoBay Fine Arts Festival, Mavis Bank under its Jablum brand, Dolphin Discovery, and private art patrons.
Also a brand ambassador for the Mahima Foundation, Chung has brought three young artists out of Edna Manley under the banner of Maia Chung’s Artworks, so they can get a chance to display their artwork at the festivals she attends.
“Turning this ugliness into something positive for me is telling people they don’t have to give up. I’ve met people who have been so affected by this cancer that they want to cut their wrists or have lost their minds. To borrow a line from a movie: ‘Raise your fist against the brevity of your life.’ This is the ultimate memorial and therapy for me. I see myself as a crisis bender and you can choose to lock down or take these things which are part of life and make them help your fellowmen. Keep pressing on.”
Her artwork can be viewed and purchased from www.maiachung.com or from the Things Jamaican corporate store.
“Remember, each time you purchase, the profit is helping one of the number one killers in Jamaica — cancer — as well as autism,” she declared.
