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How cancer patient finds strength in art therapy and with her husband draws optimism

Ivy Ip says art therapy classes at the Hong Kong Cancer Fund have been a source of inspiration. Now she’s exhibiting her work in Wan Chai

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Ivy Ip (left) and husband Kenneth Kwan, together with Hong Kong Cancer Fund art therapist Tang Hoi-lam, display a wool-felt scarf they made together at a couples’ art therapy session. Photo: Courtesy of Ivy Ip

Hong Kong couple Ivy Ip, 45, and Kenneth Kwan, 52, had been married just four years in 2021 when they received life-changing news: Ip was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer.

She quickly underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy and a 10-hour surgery – her first ever – to remove her uterus, ovaries, gallbladder, spleen and more.

To the couple’s dismay, the cancer returned in a few months.

Friends of Ip, a jewellery designer, knew how much she appreciated art. They recommended that she join free art therapy sessions at the Hong Kong Cancer Fund (HKCF) to cope emotionally.
One of Ip’s paintings depicts her and her husband in a field. Photo: Courtesy of HKCF
One of Ip’s paintings depicts her and her husband in a field. Photo: Courtesy of HKCF

The first group course she joined, in 2022, was called “Inner Beauty” and designed for gynaecological and breast cancer patients.

An art therapist checked in on participants at the start of each session, then gave them a prompt and the freedom to move around the room, grab materials they felt drawn to, and create. At the end, each participant shared their artwork with the group.

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