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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 November 1999 Issue No. 456 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 November 1999 Issue No. 456
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters In the eyes of a child
By Rania KhallafHave you ever seen buses flying through the air, or a bird bearing a flag in its beak? Well, I have. Feeling incredulous? Just visit the National Museum for Children's Art (NMCA) in Zeitoun, where the first Cairo International Biennale for Arab Children's Art opened last week. Children aged four to 12 from 18 Arab countries participated in this first event. Each was encouraged to submit at least three pieces of artwork. The philosophy of the NMCA, as its founder, prominent designer Ishaq Azmi, sums it up, is to help prepare a new generation "capable of understanding life in a better way".
A visitor to the exhibition space will be overwhelmed by a sense of joy. The bright colours and funny characters depicted will bring out the child in anyone. All is not frivolity and fun, however: the drawings also reflect children's awareness of the need to preserve their environment. This is especially true of entrants from the Gulf countries. Children from Iraq, like 12-year-old Hola Ahmed, are more aware of politics. Hola's drawing shows a mother sewing clothes for her children, tears streaming onto the table at which she is seated. Another Iraqi child drew a bird behind bars, holding the Iraqi flag in its beak.
Although the biennale was initiated by the NMCA, which is a non-governmental organisation, it is being held under the auspices of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak. What, then, is the story behind the event? "The idea was first born in 1990, when I thought of organising an international biennale for children's art," says Azmi. "The idea was partly fulfilled in the international Shona biennale, in which children from nine African countries participated. In 1997, we held the second international Shona biennale, which brought together children from all over the world."
Mrs Mubarak inaugurated this second event, which took place at the Shona art centre in Agami. The same year, Azmi began working with the Arab Council for Childhood and Development to realise an old dream: that of organising a special event for Arab children. Unfortunately, the efforts came to nothing, but Azmi did not lose faith. "I started to cooperate directly with different Arab embassies, without the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. We are a non-governmental organisation, and I think our role is to provide cultural activities and services as the privatisation process unfolds," Azmi adds.
He hopes, however, that given the success of the event, Arab countries will assume the financial responsibility of sending competitors to Egypt so that children from different Arab countries can meet for a week in Cairo. "Such a gathering would help them think about the future of the Arab world, a future free of weapons, poverty and narcotics," Azmi reflects. The biennale, at any rate, has brought the drawings of Arab children, and their dreams, clearly into focus.
Libyan painter Omar Gihan, a member of the international jury, agrees that one of the biennale's most important aims is to teach children to exercise their freedom in drawing. Seven-year-old Halim El-Sha'rani, a Syrian contestant, has painted a palm tree in orange, yellow and blue. "I drew a palm tree, a coloured one," he points out. "I like it this way." El-Sha'rani has also painted the sea -- a large expanse of vivid blue. But this is no seaside idyll: a multitude of workers are dragging garbage from the water.
The occupation of Palestine, the embargo on Iraq, environmental concerns... the works presented at the biennale reflect worries well beyond the participants' years
photos: Sherif Sonbol
Mohamed Ibrahim is also seven. He chose to draw his classmates, very slim, tall figures sketched in black pencil. "I like to draw people," Ibrahim remarks, before qualifying his remark: "I prefer to draw my friends -- only the good ones."
Salma Kamel, seven, is from Palestine. Her drawing shows an envelope flying through the air. "It will go to Palestine, my homeland," she asserts. All she knows about Palestine is that its capital is Jerusalem. She hopes she will live there one day.
Two months before the biennale, Omar Gihan organised a workshop to experiment with new ways of teaching art to children. "I started with nine children: four from Libya, three from Egypt and two from Sudan," he explains. "We used to read stories written by children, or sometimes simplified religious texts, before we started drawing. This helped stimulate their imagination."
Most of the paintings here, however, show no flights of fancy. Have children lost their capacity to invent -- even to dream?
"Unfortunately, teachers tend to curb children's sense of imagination. The themes evoked in art classes, for instance, are usually rooted firmly in everyday life. Then teachers ask their students to use their imagination! It doesn't work that way. Art should not be linked to reality," Gihan says. "The very first lesson children should learn in art is the value of creativity, which means breaking the link between art and the 'real world'. Children already have an innate sense of creativity, but we tend to curb it by ordering them around, and stifling their initiatives. The imagination should be set free," he said.
Azmi, who has devoted the past 20 years to developing this sense of creativity, still has high hopes. Next year, he intends to open three new children's museums in Finland, Germany and Holland, as part of a set of international children's art museums. These will feature a large gallery devoted to Egypt as well as sections for other countries.
