Human Rights Day 2021 Art Competition Winners

Through carefully examining each submitted piece and a thorough judging panel, winners have been chosen for the five categories.

Rights of children:

1st Place: Irshaad Ali

Irshaad's piece depicts the desire that a child has, filled with dreams, imagination, full of wonder and hope. A child should be free to have choices, a voice to be heard and the right to enjoy the best quality of life

2nd Place: Christine Mahabir

Christine's painting is about a woman (Charlotte), now successful, telling her adoption story. Originally, Charlotte came from an abusive birth family but was soon adopted by her foster parents who changed her life for the better. In the artwork, her parents watering and maintaining the delicate flowers of the garden symbolizes the nurturing and protection of her innocence. It also highlights the importance of creating a healthy, loving environment and support system for your child to grow and reach their full potential represented by the little girl lying on the flower. The book she reads also emphasises the right to proper education as it plays a key role to her brighter future at the end.

3rd Place: Sarah Persad

Sarah's piece shows children of many different races and ages standing up to show off their rights, which can be seen on either side of the picture.This depicts the reality that no matter age, no matter race, no matter whatever differences, all children are human, equal and are deserving of these rights. 

Rights of persons with disabilities

1st Place: Jabari Hutchinson

Jabari's art work illustrates two differently-abled persons: a wheelchair-bound female and a blind man. He chose to include a background and fonts exploding with colour in order to highlight the range of individuality disabled people possess. In the depiction, the shadow of the amputee shows her to be a graduate whilst the shadow of the blind man shows him to be a talented pianist. The shadows are symbolic; he used them as extensions of the theme (The Rights of People With Disabilities) that demonstrate how disabled persons are no different to persons without disabilities and they are capable of performing the same or similar activities/skills. The bold titles reinforce that we are "All Human, All Equal." 

2nd Place: Jernice Downes

Jernice portrays a few visible and learning disabilities (and some of its affects); deafness, blindness. Mutism or aphasia- can't speak yet forcing the boy to), ADHD- difficulty to focus and just like dylexia it's harder to do well in school like manage their grades- the words, letters the brain mixes up, he cries them out because of in adequacy, autism. Dyscalculia- (Maths. Numbers, shapes difficult to follow.)  But Despite these things that makes one "different"—seeing their disability and not the ability...is the reason why disabled people will feel as though they're missing a piece to them—like puzzels. 

One ability they resonated with to show is being creative. The ability to come up with bizarre, cool ideas, being able to create, etc. even with attached challenges, that's a gift!

 

3rd Place: Anya Ammon

Anya describes the path that a disabled person has to take is very different from everyone else. A path that when their rights are not respected, can be impossible and depicts this in their artwork

Right to a healthy environment 

1st Place: Daniella Mahabir

Our world is in danger and we should help save our world. People litter  and pollute our waters everyday and don't think about the consequences that we may face if that continues. My art piece shows the healthy and the unhealthy environments and what it might become if we keep on polluting the environment.

2nd Place: Liezel Parris

We should be able to appreciate what mother nature have in store for us!

3rd Place: Donnell Boodoo

We humans deserve to be treated equally wherever we live in the world. We have a right to live in a clean, green, healthy environment. A world where everyone has access to clean drinking water; a world free from pollution, utilizing natural resources (solar, wind, hydropower) to generate energy for everyday life; a world free from garbage/waste; reusing, reducing and recycling,  making our world a happier place to live with cleaner, healthier air and landscape; a world for a healthier mind to function and appreciate all that God has given to us to live comfortably as humans.

Gender equality 

1st Place: Iyana Sorzano

Iyana's piece depicts both a man and woman reaching for eachothers' "masks". These masks represent the way they see the world. In order to comprehend their struggles as the opposite sex in society, they must take a look at eachothers' hardship caused my discrimination and prejudice. To truly create change we must first understand and empathize with both parties. This is important to establish gender equality in today's society to secure a safer future for the generations to come.

2nd Place: Ambay Abhiraj

Ambay's artwork depicts a reflection of society and treatment that women can be faced with and chose to display a woman being burnt at the stake

3rd Place: Adrienne Bonair

This piece shows the struggle amongst the genders as they seek equal spaces for their voices and expressions. Nevertheless as the battle rages there are often hurts endured by all involved. Additionally, the chess symbols represent gender strengths whilst the scales are a reminder of the evident weaknesses. Hence it is necessary to advance equality through enlightenment and empowerment. 

 

Rights of migrants and refugees 

1st Place: Chelsea Darbasie

Chelsea uses their artwork to depict stormy clouds and sea showing unsafety and anxiety contrasted to the sunny beaming sky which shows safety and light. The sun rises at the point where a helping hand is lent to the refugee while other citizens are also pulling their weight to help. There is an incoming boat filled with humans attempting to escape the storm and seeking asylum. 

2nd Place: Anaya Felix

Anaya's piece illustrates how different people of various backgrounds may look on the outside. but how similar we all truly are.

3rd Place: Azizah Mohammed

Azizah's  painting depicts the current state of refugees i.e. camps and high-risk boat trips across the vast oceans. At the top, different symbols are used to represent the rights and needs of migrants. For example, freedom of expression, right to live without fear of persecution, safety and rights of children, labor rights, action against gender-based violence and last but not least the right to a safe home. The  flags represent some countries where migrants and refugees fled from to escape political conflicts, war and impovrished conditions as a result of natural disaster.