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Children of the 191 United Nations Member States, including young Maltese participants from St Aloysius College, express their view of the world through art to ERIKA BRINCAT on the occasion of the United Nations’ 60th anniversary. 
In an exhibition and a book collected and put together by Geneva World and presented at the United Nations this month, hundreds of children from the 191 Member States of the United Nations including Malta, describe their lifestyles, denounce violence, refuse pollution, and claim respect for each person in his physical and moral integrity. Using the universal language of drawings, they express a thirst for peace, security and recognition. The exhibition is entitled “Children’s drawings from the 191 member countries”, with the theme “How I see the world from where I live”.
Geneva World is a cultural and philanthropic association founded in Geneva, Switzerland on 8 July 2004, whose purpose is to promote knowledge and mutual recognition of world cultures through exchange and mutual contacts, Geneva’s role as a unique location for cultural exchange at the international level, and to build strong cultural ties with overseas countries. One of their main projects called “Mirror of the World” aims at promoting mutual knowledge and understanding of world cultures. In early April 2005 they decided to organise an exhibition linked with the 60th anniversary of the United Nations. This exhibition allowed children from the 191 Member States of the UN to express their feelings about the state of our world through their drawings.
The organisers of this incredibly wide-reaching exhibition talk about the experience:
“We never imagined how rich this undertaking would be in terms of inspiring human contacts. In fact, we were overwhelmed by so much kindness, respect and warmth. Geneva definitely enjoys a spectacular aura throughout the world and we saw on a daily basis that our correspondents were genuinely touched by the fact that we contacted them and showed interest in their far-off countries. Very soon we realised that the project could only be successful by calling upon professional contacts in the field of the arts and personal friends as well. When we contacted authorities such as local administrations or ministries of education, the outcome was disappointing. So we embarked on our marvellous quest for children’s drawings from all over the world. The first ones came from Bosnia, which is not that far away, only to be followed by an envelope from Bhutan sent by Nar, a senior civil servant who drove for hours over treacherous mountain roads to personally deliver it to the only express courier service office in his country. Surinam followed, and then the jungles of Peru. On another day we received a letter from Nepal adorned with beautiful stamps. The principal of an orphanage in Kathmandu said he heard of our project by word of mouth and asked if it would be possible for his pupils to participate in this contest, as he called it. How could we decline? Dutt, a medical doctor in New Delhi, was among the first to send us children’s drawings. We will never forget the one which shows children of all races dancing hand in hand around the world with all weapons of war thrown into the dustbin!
“We tried to get at least ten drawings from each country in the world, together with a picture of every child if possible. Our partners in this adventure are all volunteers without any exception. All they will get in return is to have their name mentioned in the book that we will produce. Over 550 people are contributing. Some of the drawings have made a lasting impression on us, particularly those from Yemen or Congo Kinshasa. For these children, there is nothing but violence, crime, blood and death. On the other hand, a small girl from Singapore saw the world as a rainbow with a smiling girl in the middle.
Poverty is very real in Africa. We often heard phrases like: ‘We would love to send you some drawings, but we don’t have a cent for supplies.’ Luckily a network of exchange students from Zimbabwe gave us fresh hope and a short while later we received a few drawings, among them a real masterpiece by the son of expatriates. Nalaka a twenty-something student from Sri Lanka, set up an association to help the poorest get an education, together with a few friends. The drawings he sent us were bright and colourful, as if the tsunami never reached Sri Lanka. One has to see, to touch and to smell them rather than just to talk about them. The paper is soft, covered with a thick layer of crayon. Magnificent!
“All the kids used their hearts and their imagination. Each of them shows their world from their own unique perspective. We always tried to explain to our correspondents that we’re not in the process of setting up a traditional art exhibition, but rather try to capture the joys, the fears and the hopes of children all over the world, by giving every participating child the opportunity to freely express itself. It is all about making children’s voices heard. It can be argued that some of the drawings are not representative of the respective countries. But our goal never was to organize an international conteSt We only tried to collect children’s spontaneous views of the world from all 191 Member States of the UN in a very short time.”
Marilyn Hodgson, a Scottish artist and art promoter residing in Malta, was offered the invitation for Malta to participate in the exhibition, and was asked to collect and coordinate the drawings representing Malta as one of the 191 United Nations Member States. Marilyn, who remained in contact with the UN headquarters in Geneva after her long residency in Switzerland, was very pleased to be offered the invitation and warmly thanks Mr Jacques Mayer, Mr Jean Cordey, Fr. Magro SJ St Aloysius College’s Rector, as well as St Aloysius College’s Art Teacher Mr Kevin Scibberas, and Dame Francoise Tempra, for their assistance in making Malta’s participation a reality.
Chardian Camilleri’s painting (from Class 2C) was selected as representing Malta from 10 paintings provided by St Aloysius College and a further 14 from children of the Tempra Foundation Art Biennale to whom Marilyn extended the invitation. Marilyn Hodgson announced Chardian’s success to the child and the College’s Rector Fr. Patrick Magro, Tuesday 20 December on her return from Geneva, and Chardian described his painting to Marilyn as “a child holding his world in a gesture of care and protection”.
Both Chardian and Fr Magro were thrilled that his work would be featured in the exhibition which will travel from Geneva around the globe on a World Tour, starting with Singapore and Bangkok, before visiting other major cities like Paris and Nairobi. It will also be shown at the UN headquarters in New York. Eventually all 191 paintings will be featured in a book available worldwide, so this young Maltese participant’s art from the heart will be exposed to a large international audience. This is a great honour both for St Aloysius as well as Malta!
Fr Patrick Magro, talks to us about their participation in the exhibition:
“Ms Hodgson approached me some time ago about the possibility of St Aloysius’ College students participating in the art exhibition. I am very grateful for all her efforts, since if it were not for her we would never have heard of this very good initiative. The news that one of our student’s painting was chosen was very good news for me and I am very pleased that St Aloysius’ College has been involved in this.
Apart from the exercise in painting itself, the topic: “How I see the world from my home”, has made our students reflect on their reality and find a way to represent it through art. Chardian Camilleri, was born in Malta in 1993 and resides in Fgura. He likes to visit art exhibitions and has learnt to appreciate art through his art lessons here at our College with Mr Kevin Sciberras. Through his abstract work of art, Chardian expresses his concerns regarding important issues affecting our globe.”
The total exhibition creates a powerful message from 191 countries around the globe, a message expressed by children who happily enjoy their life, or to the contrary, cry for peace and basic respect of their integrity both physical and environmental. With this project Geneva World’s ambition is to become the children’s loudspeaker.
During the inauguration speech at the U.N.’s Headquarters in Geneva, a particular mention was given to the person who conceived and realised this exhibition in such a short period of time – Mr Jean Cordey, symbolically referred to as “the father of 191 children”. Towards the conclusion of his opening speech Jacques Mayer, the President of Geneva World reminded guests of the famous book “Le Petit Prince” and the words of Antoine de St Exupery: “The essential is invisible to the eyes. One can only see well with the heart.” He then went on to invite us all to discover these amazing messages from children all over the world, with our own heart.
The message is the same everywhere, regardless of the children’s place of residence, their social status or education: “Less violence, less hate, less war, less pollution, and more equality between peoples and individuals.”
What better gift could these kids have given us this Christmas 2005 but a sincere, and common message of peace, love, unity and hope for all? Children have a natural wisdom, which need never be underestimated, so it is wonderful that they got an opportunity to show-case it and share it with the rest of the world, for they are a real “Mirror of the World” as they experience it and collaborate to create it!
For more information and to view some of the participants’ heart-felt drawings check out: http://www.genevaworld.com.
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