Constructive Responses to September 11
January 2002
Banner photo: ©SEKAI BUNKA PHOTO
Boys and Girls Art Exhibition
Her Royal Highness Princess Jelisaveta Karadordević of Yugoslavia opening the exhibition in Belgrade
In recent months, the SGI's "World Boys and Girls Art Exhibition" has toured numerous countries--including Thailand, Denmark, Germany, Paraguay and Yugoslavia. In addition to a permanent collection chosen from a total of 10,000 artworks submitted from around the world by children from 4 to 15 years old, the exhibition includes a selection of paintings contributed by children from each city in which the exhibit is being held. In Paraguay, for example, a competition drew 5,200 entries from 100 elementary and junior high schools in the Asunción region, and the country's President Luis Gonzalez Macchi and Asunción Mayor Martin Burt attended the opening ceremony.
A drawing by a 10-year-old girl from Thailand
In view of the concurrent air raids on Afghanistan, paintings submitted by children in that country some time before the bombing began took on a particularly poignant light. One painting portrays a mother veiled in a shroud hugging a crying child, and another depicts a weeping mother holding a child to her breast. In Bangkok, Thailand, one visitor to the exhibition commented on the way the paintings expressed the deep longing of the young Afghan artists for a society at peace where mothers and children no longer shed tears.
In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, meanwhile, 50 specially commissioned paintings by Yugoslavian children were added to the exhibition which was subtitled, "We Are All Friends On This Planet." The local organizer commented: "Our message is one of friendship. Children here have suffered so much because of war, but their paintings vividly convey the dreams of peace and happiness they all share." Her Royal Highness Princess Jelisaveta Karadordević of Yugoslavia was among the 400 guests who attended the opening ceremony.
