Funkor Participates in the Art Party of Hiroshima

Saeeda Bibi

Sumaira Bibi

Saeeda Bibi

Sumaira Bibi

Shanze Tanveer

Munazza Tanveer

Art Party, co-sponsored by ANT-Hiroshima is an annual event in Hiroshima. A group of children from Pakistan, under the guidance of Funkor Childart Center, took part in 2008's Art Party exhibition. 2008 marks 6th exhibition of Art Party, an event which features artwork created by "children in need" from countries around the world and 100% of the proceeds from sales of this artwork are returned to the participating children's groups.

Background

Pakistan like any other developing country has a large number of children belonging to the lower socio-economic group. Children from the priviledged class have art in school but the under priviledged children have no opportunity of experiencing the joy of painting. Funkor Childart Center, especially reaches out to such children .For the 'Art Party' Funkor selected work of two pairs of sisters who are truly in 'need' they are :

Shanza Tanveer 8 years (Student of Al-Maktoom Center)
Munnazza Tanveer 10 years (Student of Al-Maktoom Center)
Saeeda Bibi 13 years
Sumera Bibi 16 years

Funkor is promoting the work of 2 sisters , Munazza and Shanze , who are visually impaired, currently students of Almaktoom Center for visually impaired. Artist Fauzia Minallah have taught them different techniques during regular art classes organised by Funkor at Almaktoom. Their work is titled 'Circles of Hope'. It was their idea to use their plastic bangles to make the circles. Small mirrors are traditionally used in the decoration of clothes in some parts of Pakistan, here they are used as decoration too because it is easy for Munazza and Shanze to paste them.

Shanze and Munnaza's 16 years old brother is also blind while the other 2 sisters are normal. Their father died 3 years ago. Their mother and older sisters make 5000 paper bags daily for which they are paid $1.30 dollars. This is how they make ends meet. The 10 year old Munazza helps her mother and sisters by making atleast 200 paper bags everyday.

Please watch their video Circles of Hope of creating their artwork. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahI3wu4M-_k

The paintings by Sumera & Saeeda is a glimpse into their fascinating imagination which gives us some clue of their lives. They are reflective of their background. Their father is a gardener who earns $100 per month, taking care of the gardens of his rich employers. Their mother has remarried five years ago.This resulted in the end of education of Sumera who does all the house work, her mother used to do.
They are 3 sisters and 2 brothers, they live in a cramped one room on the rooftop of an apartment building. Their younger sister Mariam 12 years, lived with her mother till last year to live with the father now.

Their paintings have a very distinct style, the recurrent theme is 'three sisters' and most of the time taking care of trees and plants something inspired by their father's profession. Funkor Childart Center have promoted their work for the past 5 years.

At the Art Party each artist sold paintings worth $110 each which is a big help to each one of them.

Children's Artwork on National Children's Day

The main backdrop for the National Children's Day, 2005 held in the Convention Centre, Islamabad on 15th February, 2005, was based on the theme UNITY. It shows children from different regions of Pakistan holding hands in unity and raising the national flag high.

Saeeda and Sumera's painting on Children's day the ex Prime Minister and the ex Minister of Special Education are in the foreground	Saeeda and Sumera with their painting

When Funkor Childart Center was invited to facilitate for National Children's Day 2005 by the National Commission for Child Welfare and Development, Funkor used this high profile event, where the Prime Minister of Pakistan was the chief guest, to promote children's art. The uniqueness of this year's backdrop was that it was painted entirely by Sumera Bibi (age 15) and Saeeda Bibi (age 11), under the guidance of Fauzia Minallah. The spirit behind this backdrop was to help in a meaningful way, these sisters who painted it , and to emphasize that every Children's Day should be celebrated with children's art.
Saeeda and Sumera belong to a lower socio-economic group and they don't have a mother. Sumera at the age of 15 has the responsibilities of a mother and had to quit school because she must take care of the house, while Saeeda is lucky to be able to go to school along with her 2 brothers.

Sumera is very good at painting decorative borders therefore the mural has a beautiful border done by Sumera. To make their drawing easy their younger brother, Salman aged 9, was asked to lie down on the mural that was stretched on the ground, while Sumera traced his outline. They were given stencils for the outline of faces and eyes. The background was already blue and the colours used were water based fabric paints. We used many tiny round mirrors that are traditionally used in embroidery from Baluchistan to give a shimmering effect. When the light reflected on the mirrors they shone like shimmering stars.

Painting is an activity that children enjoy and love. Saeeda and Sumera worked very hard on this mural, yet enjoyed every moment of the process of painting this backdrop. The spirit behind doing this mural by Saeeda and Sumera was to highlight their story. This Children's Day proved to be meaningful for at least these 2 sisters who worked very hard to add color to the event and were able to buy with the money they earned, a colour television they always wished to own.

Besides the main backdrop, there were 30 murals each 8ft by 4ft on display, contributed by different schools. Their names are: Primary School Rumbur Kalash, N.W.F.P; Community School, Shanigar, Chitral, N.W.F.P; Shalamar School for Hearing Impaired, Lahore; Baitul mal School Islamabad; Beaconhouse; The City School; Roots; Headstart; Khaldunia High; Lahore Grammar School Islamabad, Froebels International; Mazmoon-i-Shauq; Ariana School for Afghan Refugee Children in G9; UNESCO School for Afghan Refugee Children Miskeenabad; F.G Primary School No.52 F 7/1 (supported by Innovators for Social Change); F.G Primary School No.23 F 7/4; and F.G Middle Model School for Girls Chakshazad.

The murals depicted the theme Children's Voices for Child Protection, whether it is protection from child abuse, child labour, religious intolerance or environmental degradation. Funkor Child Art Centre organized the display of children's artwork. The murals were so eye catching and resplendent that the Prime Minister of Pakistan mentioned in his acknowledgement how beautiful the artwork was and in his speech he mentioned that he will make sure that it is a part of the curriculum of State schools because at the moment art activities are negligible in state schools

Murals Gallery