KUALA LUMPUR : STANDARD Chartered Bank Malaysia, in collaboration with Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Noor Arfa Batik and Canon Malaysia, organised a one-day charity art exhibition called “Touching Hearts” recently.
The exhibition was displayed in the lobby of Menara Standard Chartered.
It was held to raise funds for Standard Chartered’s charity projects, including helping the visually-impaired students of SMK Pendidikan Khas (Cacat Penglihatan) Setapak.
During the art exhibition, the bank’s staff did their bit for charity by purchasing paintings.
“More than half of the 40 batik art paintings were sold,” said Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia chief information officer Datuk Arif Siddiqui.
“According to the World Health Organisation, an estimated 80 per cent of global blindness is avoidable, resulting in a focused and concentrated international effort to combat avoidable blindness,” he said.
“Sharing this mission, Standard Chartered is committed to eliminate avoidable blindness and treat visual impairment through our global initiative “Seeing Is Believing (SiB)”.
Arif said the initiative was a global partnership between Standard Chartered, the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness and leading eye-care non-governmental organisations which tackle avoidable blindness and visual impairment.
“The ‘Touching Hearts’ exhibition, in its second year, is a collaborative effort by the bank and its partners to nurture artistic talents of the visually-impaired in the hope of empowering them with lifelong skills,” he said.
“This exhibition showcases batik paintings, batik pelangi T-shirts and scarves which were produced in a two-day workshop by 22 visually-impaired students from the school.
“The students were brought to UiTM on March 8 and April 19 where they were coached by volunteers, which included staff from the bank, professors, staff and students of UiTM’s Faculty of Art & Design. They helped the students to come up with unique designs.
“Canon Malaysia organised a one-day photography workshop for the students of the school on August 6 and 7 where students were taught how to use Canon cameras to shoot amazing photographs, which were later displayed in the exhibition.
“The exhibition is an example of our community outreach programmes, which give our employees and partners an opportunity to reach out to the local community and empower the visually-impaired with vocational skills for sustainable living.”
He said SiB had reached an estimated 45 million people through work to prevent and treat eye problems through education and awareness campaigns.
Some 2.91 million people worldwide have had their sight restored with support from SiB.
Also present at the launch of the art exhibition were Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd managing director and chief executive officer Osman Morad, Noor Arfa Batik Sdn Bhd executive chairman Wan Mohd Ariffin Wan Long and Canon Marketing Malaysia Sdn Bhd president and chief executive officer Wataru Nishioka.