The 2023 exhibition Small Act, Big Difference brought 41 paintings to Ion Art Gallery in Singapore to support children from low-income families.
The project was led by 17-year-old J’den Teo and included ten other artists under the age of 20, alongside four established practitioners.
Young artists working beside established names
Participants included Andrew Huang, winner of the 2022 UOB Painting of the Year, as well as Dr Tan Ik Koon, Jacky Mak, Jays Phua and Jeff Sia.
The youngest artist was 12-year-old Nicole Wan.
Teo contributed several works, including two paintings of an ox. Forging Ahead represented courage in the face of fear, while Overcome addressed the act of moving beyond it.
An exhibition organised as youth philanthropy
More than 100 youth volunteers helped develop and operate the event.
All proceeds supported The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund, which assists children with everyday schooling costs.
Teo founded Tad Charity in 2017 after encountering severe poverty during a childhood visit to Cambodia. His first charity exhibition raised approximately $100,000, and the fifth edition sought to exceed that total.
Digital versions of ten works were also offered as NFTs, reflecting the period’s interest in linking physical art sales with blockchain-based ownership.
The exhibition’s strongest contribution was not technological. It created a structure in which young artists, organisers and volunteers participated in fundraising through work they had made themselves.
Small Act, Big Difference treated youth creativity as a form of civic action. The artists were not presented only as beneficiaries of adult encouragement, but as people capable of building a substantial public project around education and inequality.