Today’s Solutions: November 14, 2024

If you heard that the town where you have lived your entire life was going to be demolished, what would you do? For Huang Yung-fu, a former soldier from Taiwan, the answer was pick up a brush and paint.

For the past 10 years, Yung-fu has been waking up at 4:00 in the morning and decorating the drab cement walls, pavement, and windows of his old village with an explosion of playful murals in kaleidoscopic colors. What began as an artistic protest against the demolishment of his village has now turned into a whimsical world of cartoon-like people, abstract animals, and surrealist art that covers every centimeter of concrete in this former military settlement, which is now known as Rainbow Village.

Now more than one million visitors flock to the village every year to meet its elderly artist and lone permanent resident, affectionately known as ‘Grandpa Rainbow’. And the craziest thing is that while covering every corner of the village in a vivid dreamscape may seem like Huang’s life work, the self-taught artist only picked up a brush 10 years ago at the ripe age of 86. Not only has he transformed his Taiwanese settlement into a real-life storybook, but he saved it from demolition in the process. Have a look here to read the incredible story behind Rainbow Village and the man who saved it from its doom through vibrant art.

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

Two Black women to serve together in the United States Senate in a historic f...

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For the first time in American history, two Black women will serve together in the Senate. Angela Alsobrooks, ...

Read More

Resilient community-building: staying safe in times of uncertainty

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY TEAM Recent global and domestic developments have left many feminists and allies feeling uneasy, uncertain about their place in society, ...

Read More

3 lifestyle hacks to help you become a little happier

There is no one path to finding happiness, but there are some lifestyle changes you can make to become more receptive to happiness. Without ...

Read More

For the first time ever, Greece meets energy demands with 100% renewables

The other week, Greece celebrated an exciting milestone! All of the country’s electricity needs were met by renewable energy for the first time, as ...

Read More