Artist’s paintings of sister with Down syndrome goes viral on FB

MANILA, Philippines — A series of paintings shared on a Facebook group went viral on October 14 as it touched the heart of netizens for depicting scenarios in everyday life of an individual, using a girl with Down syndrome as its subject.

The artist named Maribel Magpoc said that the girl in the paintings is her 14-year-old sister named Mariel Magpoc.

“I put my sister as the main subject para ipakita sa iba na yung condition nya [to show others that her condition] is not an obstacle for her to live normally in this society,” she said.

Photo credit: Mario Evelyn Magpoc

Maribel started using her sister as her subject 3 years ago, way back when she was struggling to look for her own style.

“I was struggling looking for my own style then naisip ko why not yung sister ko yung gawin ko subject that way makakatulong pa ko [I thought about why not use my sister as my subject, in that way I’ll  be able] to build awareness about people like her.”

It seems like the netizens were not the only ones who were amazed by the paintings as Maribel’s works have already been exhibited in various galleries.

The Facebook post showing photos of her paintings and her sister easily went viral as it garnered more than 65,000 reactions and 46,000 shares online.   /muf