“When we create or appreciate art, we set free the spirit trapped within.

That is why art arouses such joy.

Art – whether skillfully executed or not – the emotion, the pleasure of expressing life as it is.

Those who see art are moved by its passion and strength, its intensity and beauty.

That is why it is impossible to separate life from art.

Political and economic developments may seem to dominate the news , but culture and education are the forces that actually shape an age, since they transform the human heart.”

~ Daisaku Ikeda, president of SGI, a worldwide Buddhist organisation active in 192 countries; founder in 1963 of the Min-On Concert Association in Japan to promote international music and performing arts exchanges; and of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum in 1983 to inspire and unite people of the world through appreciation and exchange of art and culture.

Thank you to Susanna Marsiglia on Unsplash for the photo