大象传媒

Kuwaiti artist Shurooq Amin is known for her controversial depictions of the double standards she sees in Arab society. As a result, she is not allowed to exhibit in her home country. This hasn't deterred her and she continues to speak out against what she sees as injustice in the Gulf states.

The traditional Vietnamese music known as CaTru has had a chequered history. It began in royal courts but later on became associated with vice and depravity and was rarely performed. Our reporter Marianne Brown has been to Hanoi to meet a woman who has made some difficult sacrifices to revive the art form.

Concetta Antico is a painter with a very unusual gift. A genetic condition called tetrachromacy means she can perceive millions more colours than most people. She has superhuman vision and can see subtleties in the world that the rest of us can't.

Cape Verdean singer Cesaria Evora who died three years ago started her career singing on cruise ships and went on to become a huge international star. She was known as the "Barefoot Diva" for performing without shoes. David Amanor talks to the 大象传媒's Manuel Toledo and Zenaida Machado about her music and what she means to Cape Verdeans.

Grace McCleen is an acclaimed young novelist from Wales who says that she is giving up writing because she finds the experience too painful. Grace was brought up in an evangelical Christian household and as a result she was isolated from much of the outside world during her childhood. She's channelled her experiences into her writing but despite receiving great praise for her work she says her third book The Offering may be her last.

Donny Osmond started singing in public when he was five years old and is still performing. He remembers the pressures of being a teen idol, and describes how he rebuilt his career after falling out of fashion in the 1980s.

(Photos: Artist Concetta Antico (left); singer Donny Osmond (centre, credit: Brandon); writer Grace McCleen (right, credit: Tom York))