Faith found artistic expression in Singapore as Legionary of Christ priest Joseph Tham showcased a fusion of Chinese calligraphy and Catholic spirituality in an exhibition that drew more than 800 visitors.
According to Catholic News Singapore, the exhibit titled “Close Brush with God” featured about 50 works ranging from Scripture passages written in ancient Chinese scripts to landscape paintings inspired by biblical themes.
Held in September at the Catholic Center on Waterloo Street, it invited the public to explore how art can serve as a bridge between culture and belief.
The official news service of the Archdiocese of Singapore reported that the priest gave up his career as a doctor and his hobby for 17 years – Chinese calligraphy and painting – when he entered religious life in the early 1990s.
“I had to stop painting in the seminary because my superiors thought it was not relevant to my formation,” said the 60-year-old priest from Hong Kong, who began practicing calligraphy at age 12.
Two decades later, as a bioethics professor at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, Fr. Tham resumed painting—this time infusing his art with Catholic themes and scriptural symbolism.
“Like Christianity, Buddhism did not originate in China. But while Buddhism has been inculturated, Christianity is still regarded as a foreign religion by the Chinese,” he explained.
Fr. Tham said he hopes his work can help Chinese Catholics appreciate their faith through familiar cultural forms.
“A friend of mine once cried when she saw my calligraphy of a prayer by Saint Teresa of Avila in Chinese,” he recalled. “She knew the prayer in English, but felt it touched her more deeply when she prayed it in Chinese.”
“Everyone is different and God speaks to each person individually,” he added. “Art is similar to the sacramental experience. It is a visible form of an invisible reality.”
Visitors to the exhibition were also able to learn calligraphy and seal design in workshops led by Fr. Tham, who described artistic expression as a form of prayer and listening to God.
