Fwd: Fw: Art Contest Appeal
zahirul islam
Dear Friends and Partners,
Please see the detailed message below regarding the Minority Artist Human Rights Defenders Contest. I would like you to explore the exhibition materials from the 2022-2024 editions and to help distribute the open call for the 2025 edition, with a submission deadline of 1 March 2025.
I appreciate your support!
Best regards,
Zahir
Md Zahirul Islam
Human Rights Officer
Human Rights and Protection Group
UNITED NATIONS TRANSITIONAL ASSISTANCE MISSION IN SOMALIA (UNTMIS)
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2025 3:54 PM
Subject: Art Contest Appeal
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to invite you (1) to make use of exhibition materials from our minority artist human rights defenders contest 2022-2024, as well as (2) to distribute broadly the currently open call for the 2025 edition, the deadline for which is 1 March 2025:
As you may be aware, our Office currently holds annually an international contest for minority artist human rights defenders. The first 3 editions were held in the period 2022-2024, focusing on the themes of Statelessness (2022), Intersectionality (2023) and Memory in the Present (2024). Catalogues for the first 3 editions are available here:
- Memory in the Present (2024)
- Intersectionality (2023) and
- Statelessness (2022)
... and an online virtual gallery of the first 3 years of the action can be visited and explored here. In its first 3 years, 22 artists have been recognized with awards or honourable mention.
First request and offer: The materials of the first three years of the exhibitions are all available in electronic form. These materials include both catalogues and exhibition panels (dimensions vary and can be adjusted). They can be sent to you by email and easily printed out for use at events, celebrations, in UN or other spaces, or for thematic discussions and presentations. The panels contain both information on the themes of the Contest and their human rights dimensions, as well as biographies and images of the artworks of the laureates. Last year, for example, civil society partners printed out the materials from the Statelessness exhibition at a global conference on statelessness in Kuala Lumpur. The conference organizers also brought two of the winning artists of the 2022 edition of the contest to the conference in Kuala Lumpur, to discuss their lives and work and to present the human rights issues underlying their experiences. This is an example of uses to which these materials can be put in our internet age. Please let Claude Cahn know if you would like to receive and host the exhibition materials.
Second request and offer: Applications are now open for the 2025 edition of the contest, this year on the theme of is Belonging, Place and Loss, including climate change-related loss. The deadline for applications is 1 March 2025, at LINK (available in all UN languages) and below. Artists identifying as minorities in the sense of the 1992 UN Minorities Declaration, and working on the theme of Belonging, Place and Loss are invited to submit an application, together with up to 5 examples of their work (submitted electronically). It would be great if you could distribute the call, which is also below, to artists, networks, UN agencies and others who might be interested in applying, or in contact with eligible artists.
This action is a partnership of OHCHR with Minority Rights Group, Freemuse and other partners. Inquiries to: claud...@un.org.
Thank you for contribution.
Best, Nada
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International Contest for Minority Artists 2025
Belonging, Place and Loss
Geneva, 18 December 2024. On the occasion of minorities day – the anniversary of the adoption in 1992 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities – OHCHR and its partners announce the launch of the fourth edition of the International Contest for Minority Artists (2025). The 2025 theme of the Contest is Belonging, Place and Loss.
The 2025 theme invites creative exploration by minority artists human rights defenders of the connections between minority rights, minority experiences, and questions of belonging, environmental justice and climate change, as well as wider aspects of minority attachment to place and existence, loss of community, language and culture.
Artists who identify as belonging to a national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minority are invited to submit high-quality electronic images of up to five works of art related to the 2025 theme of the Contest. Applications for the Contest should be submitted on the website of Freemuse.org, at the following LINK.
Arabic:
https://www.freemuse.org/minority-artist-contest-2025-arabic
Chinese:
https://www.freemuse.org/minority-artist-contest-2025-chinese
English:
https://www.freemuse.org/minority-artist-contest-2025-english
French:
https://www.freemuse.org/minority-artist-contest-2025-french
Russian:
https://www.freemuse.org/minority-artist-contest-2025-russian
Spanish:
https://www.freemuse.org/minority-artist-contest-2025-spanish
The final deadline for submission is 1 March 2025. A voluntary Judges Panel will select three minority artists, groups of artists, or art projects to receive non-hierarchical awards and one minority artists to receive the Minority Artist Award for Youth. The award-winners will be announced in November 2025.
For more information, a full description and concept note for the 2025 Contest is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
The International Contest for Minority Artists is part of the Minority Artists for Human Rights Initiative (2024-2028), a comprehensive program centred on minority artists as human rights defenders. In the implementation of this action, OHCHR works in partnership with the non-governmental organizations Minority Rights Group International and Freemuse, and the City of Geneva. During 2024, the action also enjoyed the support of Loterie Romande, the Canton and Republic of Geneva, as well as of other contributors who wish to remain anonymous.
Further information on our work to profile minority artist human rights defenders is available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/minorities/minority-artists-voice-and-dissidence
