Painting for peace
Sami children from Nordland county travelled all across the Barents Region to Naryan Mar to meet with Nenets children. Together they expressed their understanding of peace on canvas. Now their artworks are sent all around the world to spread their message.
With so-called intuitive painting, where no special art skills are required, Nenets and Sami children used colours and numerous creative forms to express their feelings and emotions associated with peace.
The children looked at peace at the broadest sense of the word. Not only in the contexts of war, but also regarding comfort and safety. In a world where children are being constantly weighed, measured and judged accordingly, the participants feel that the understanding of the word should be given a much broader context.
Barents project
With 280 000 NOK in support from the Norwegian Barents Secretariat Sami children and teachers from Hattfjelldal school in Nordland travelled to Naryan Mar to start the joint project with the local children. Their association of peace could be of the tundra, their family houses, mountains, rivers, rainbows or just abstract symbols. Whatever reminds them of peace. Every painting was given a title and a short description by the individual artist.
18-year-old Sergey from Naryan Mar described peace like this:
THE EYES OF THE WORLD
Eyes are the mirror of the soul.
You have to look into the eyes to understand a person.
People sometimes have prejudice about other nations. Just look into their eyes.
Travelling exhibition
The peacepainting project is an international event, and workshops have been carried out in Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Poland, Philippines, Norway and Russia. After the workshop the art works travel from country to country.
You will find these artworks on various public places, such as airports, hospitals, hotels and so on. The aim is that people passing by absorb the messages.
- We hope that exhibitions like this, where children display their thoughts about important topics, can provide hope and encouragement to adults and decision makers. Maybe these initiatives taken by the children can inspire others to work towards the same goal; A world where our children can grow up and blossom in peaceful coexistence, and a world where all individuals are equally important, says the organizers.
Friends over the borders
During the days in Naryan Mar there was no talk about the language barrier. The enjoyment of colours and friendship was their common bond. Maybe the most important outcome of the project was that the Sami and Nenets children became really good friends during the time they spent together.
Se photos from the project:
