Mobile Art School in Kenya (MASK) is exhibiting Kenyan children's art at UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) from 20-31 July 2009
Private view and MASK's presentation is on 24 July 2009 from 5 to 7pm.
Director Mark Bray of UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning will be hosting the event. A cocktail will be held throughout.
Address:
IIEP UNESCO
7-9, rue Eugène-Delacroix,
75116 Paris, France
Metro: rue de la Pompe
EXHIBITION OF CHILDREN’S ART FROM CONFLICT-AFFECTED COUNTRIES
'One Year After The Conflict'
In early 2008, MASK worked with child victims of the Kenyan post-election violence in displaced persons' camps in Nakuru town and schools in Laikipia. Children had been traumatised by witnessing people being killed and their houses set alight. They hid in the bush, scared and hungry for days. Some lost their parents and now live with their siblings in over-crowded huts with their relatives who cannot feed them or pay for their schooling. In the refugee camps, a few possessions covered by a plastic sheet have become their homes. In 2009, one year after the conflict, children expressed their experiences and hopes for the future. The wounds are still open. Children want to go back to their lands and rebuild their houses. As a result of the conflict, famine and hunger became widespread in the country. This became the biggest concern to children, and they strongly expressed their daily struggle for food in their paintings.
ABOUT MASK
Art is not taught in most Kenyan schools. Mobile Art School in Kenya (MASK) gives Kenyan children an opportunity to participate in cultural life, to enjoy the arts and to share its benefits. We organise art workshops in schools, set up art clubs and put on exhibitions of children's work. MASK also promotes peace to schoolchildren though art and drama, and encourages the development of young Kenyan contemporary art. Its mobile format allows it to reach and benefit many children across different ethnic groups. The programme aims to show a hopeful and enriching side to Africa, to demonstrate a cultural and artistic need and talent that emphasises our common humanity in a positive way.
ART FOR PEACE
Currently, there are no peace-building organisations in Kenya that focus in their work on schoolchildren. MASK strongly believes that building a future of peace and prosperity for the people in Kenya begins with teaching children mutual respect and tolerance. Working in areas of conflict and need, MASK uses art and drama to promote peace, ethnic tolerance and national unity. Art is the most effective and comprehensive way of educating children. It is also a powerful and low-cost tool in uniting communities and healing wounds of conflict. Yet, children living in conflict or extreme poverty are often the most deprived in terms of artistic input. The School organises exchange programmes between schools of different ethnic groups, especially those in conflict, and voices children’s peaceful aspirations to communities at large through its exhibitions. MASK has become an important link between children across different ethnic groups in the Nakuru, Narok, Laikipia, Samburu, Pokot, Naivasha and Baringo regions. It continuously collaborates in Kenya with local not-for-profit and non-partisan peace-building organisations drawing on their experience and expertise. With sufficient support and resources, MASK can be a very important regional organisation that can provide an inexpensive but very effective contribution to prevention and management of conflict in Kenya.
MASK is Registered UK Charity No: 1128734. Please support us. Any donations however small will go directly to MASK's charitable purposes and will be greatly appreciated. To donate please go onto www.justgiving.com/mobileartschoolinkenya/donate or http://www.justgiving.com/ALLA-TKACHUK/ for our special appeal. You can also donate by sending us a cheque made payable to "Mobile Art School in Kenya" to MASK, One, St Paul’s Churchyard, London EC4M 8S, UK.
contact@mobileartschoolinkenya.org
www.mobileartschoolinkenya.org
