By Shaun McKenna
Canada’s newest human rights ambassadors are all under the age of 18 — and they are spreading their message through art.
The National Arts Centre held an art contest for children last year to celebrate human rights. Now this celebration will be seen in more than 18 different countries.
Titled Imagine You’re An Artist … Human Rights Through The Eyes Of Our Youth, the contest drew more than 700 pieces from children between six and 18. They commented on a range of human needs from the right to watch television, to the rights of free choice and living peacefully.
Kelly Ann Beaton, NAC assistant director of communications, says this contest was special because it came in time to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The contest began last year with help from the Ottawa Citizen and Le Droit. According to Beaton, it was well received and caught the eye of the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade learned about the contest when the embassy suggested they bring it down for Canada Week, an event promoting Canadian culture.
“We decided to turn it into a tour and not just send it to Washington,” says Christine Pappas of Foreign Affairs. “The message is so universal– children and human rights.”
Foreign Affairs selected 50 of the drawings to tour North and South America. They put up the cost of shipping the drawings, and embassies in other countries are finding spaces to show the works.
Children who visit the exhibit in other countries will be allowed to contribute to it. Their work will go on display with the original Canadian pieces when the tour takes place in their region.
When the tour is completed, pieces done by children in other countries will come back to Canada with the original exhibit, scheduled to be displayed in Ottawa in 2000.
Pappas notes this type of exchange is a way “to get kids talking to kids,” and let Canadian youth learn what human rights means to children in other countries.
“It’s really beautiful,” says Charlene Choi, an art history student at Carleton University. “I am really surprised at the amount of attention given to the importance of multiculturalism in all the drawings.”
Choi is impressed by the scope of themes represented in the exhibit. “Even the youngest ones realize the importance of acknowledging all races.”
Choi points out the caption on a drawing done by 16-year-old Annik St-Arnaud. The caption accompanies a colourful and complex image of what goes on inside a child’s mind. “If I were an artist,” it reads, “I would give them dreams, because that’s where everything starts.”