Celebrating the Creative Side of the HART Prize for Human Rights 2020-2021

This year we were lucky enough to receive a number of excellent artistic entries to this year’s creative categories for the HART Prize for Human Rights 2020-2021. Below are a selection of some of the wonderful artwork we received:

Angel Taylor King (14)- Norwich High School for Girls- “Blood on my Hands”- Junior Creative:

Tarami Awosile (16)- St Albans High School for Girls- Tears for our People- Intermediate Creative:

In Tarami’s words, “the piece highlights a Nigerian youth with afro hair weeping due to the pain inflicted on Nigerians from police brutality which led to the recent ENDSARS protests in October 2020. Painting the person blue, reflected my own personal understanding of “feeling blue” as a result of the killing of young people protesting at the Lekki toll gate, and how I felt hearing the stories of so many innocent people who lost their lives from police brutality inflicted by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). The tears, with a hint of red denotes blood, representing the loss of innocent lives, from green eyes, representing the pain of the youth in Mother Nigeria. The green background with the white hair in the middle represents the Nigerian Flag, and the afro hair carries the words written in placards by the youth during the protests – ENDSARS, Stop Police Brutality, Stop Killing Our People etc.“

Charis Odoki (19)- Exeter University- Bedo Ki Gen (Hope)- Senior Creative:

Charis describes the piece as follows: “Bedo Ki Gen is the Acholi word for hope. This piece focuses on a young Ugandan who will eventually grow up and inherit the Uganda of tomorrow. The two figures on either side are current president Yoweri Museveni and prospective candidate Bobi Wine. I wanted to show how the future of the younger generation in Uganda is dictated by leadership, which is why the central figure is obscured by the political party colours of yellow and red. However, I called the piece ‘Hope’ in reference to charities like HART; charities that are with the Ugandan people who felt heavily dominated by the election this year. The symbol extends outside of the frame to show that even if a population of a country feel that they are trapped, these charities provide freedom and aid in times of uncertainty: they extend beyond boundaries.”

Rebecca Brett (22)- Durham University- “The Monopoly of Education: Rolling the Dice on our Children’s Futures- Senior Creative:

Rebecca submitted her piece alongside the following description, “the COVID-19 pandemic has increased international attention on education as a global issue, with every country in the world simultaneously experiencing challenges in their ability to provide accessible, quality education. However, with the pandemic only highlighting pre-existing barriers experienced by children in their efforts to access quality education around the globe; this piece represents the ‘monopoly’ of education experienced by children internationally, and the multitude of factors which are forcing parents, teachers, children, international organisations and Governments to ‘roll the dice’ on both children’s education, and the future of their communities.“