The art pieces on display will also be showcased in an art tour across the country, Lavinia said. PHOTO: FILE
A visual arts contest is being organised to engage young Pakistanis to express their vision of peace through drawings, paintings and photography.
Titled “2014 Art for Peace – The Young Pakistanis Vision”, the initiative aims to provide a platform to the resident youth to share their messages of peace with the rest of the world through visual arts.
“This is a way of showing how art can be used as a tool for peace and help bridge the various cultures, religions and backgrounds in this region,” Lavinia Fillipi, art critic and chairperson of the jury said.
“It is important to stop and think how we can build a better world and arrive at peace,” she remarked.
The idea is to exhibit about 20 shortlisted art pieces at the Serena’s Satrang Gallery in Islamabad and the amount generated from the sales will be used to fund art fellowships.
The art pieces on display will also be showcased in an art tour across the country, Lavinia said.
Other members of the jury are: art historian and curator Abdul Aziz Sohail, visual artist Sajjad Ahmed, Japanese artist Yukiko Tidten-Yoshikawa, visual artist and teacher Xahra Hafeez Khawaja, Brazilian Ambassador Alfredo Leoni, freelance art writer and teacher Maha Malik and Dutch Ambassador Marcel de Vink. Quddus Mirza, head of Fine Art Department at the National College of Arts, Lahore, is the special adviser for the contest.
“The UN is eager to give young Pakistanis a platform to share their message of peace through visual art pieces,” said United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Country Director Vittorio Cammarota.
A study conducted for UNIC’s Emergency Fundy Peace-building, Education and Advocacy Programme, noted that young people see art and various media as a way to promote peace. Various media were mentioned by both adults and young people as valuable and easy ways that young people could contribute to peace.
Furthermore, young people want opportunities to learn new things, generally from each other. They have much to offer as peace builders, especially if they are given the support and opportunities necessary to contribute.
Many positive approaches and interventions that are already in place – such as arts, life skills, sports, equitable access to quality education that contributes to peace building, peer education, and partnerships with young centres – can readily and organically be integrated into programmes and policies with peace-building objectives.
Eligible applicants should be aged between 15 and 24 years. The contest is open to both amateur and professional artists and the deadline for submissions has been extended to June 13. The art initiative is being organised by United Nations Pakistan in collaboration with Satrang Gallery and Serena Hotels.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 7th, 2014.
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