[tsl/public good] Visions of Global Justice Teen Art Contest
The past month has brought about many new visions of global justice here at Global Kids. The Visions of Global Justice workshops and art contest celebrated the launch of the International Justice Center and was a great opportunity to explore in Second Life what international justice means to teens around the world. Click the link for the complete summary and photos!
Visions of Global Justice Workshops
Forty teens gathered on three different occasions around the campfire on GK Island to share their thoughts and experiences on international justice. During the workshop, we brainstormed about how we define justice, tested our knowledge of the role of the International Criminal Court in upholding international justice, and looked at drawings by children in Darfur collected by Human Rights Watch and Waging Peace, to gain a better understanding of the power of art and how it can be used to spread the message of global justice.
Looking at this artwork, workshop participants wrote stories as if they were the ones who illustrated the drawings to explain the atrocities they’ve seen or alternately, as if they were a judge at the ICC who has received this drawing as evidence. Here is what they had to say:
“When a child of any age illustrates an image so compelling as this, it makes one wonder how intense this moment must have been for the artist. This image contains racial allusions, the white man upon a steed firing shots upon the black man. A weathered woman lies dead in the background, with a red scribble representing the loss of a life. Men holding guns. Men in cars. People standing in a line, waiting to be slaughtered one by one. Genocide? Obviously. The most melancholy of all the determinants for this picture is that it depicts the style of child, quite young, drawing this morbid scene.”
“In the picture I believe that a genocide is occurring. The victims are being marched to a military installation, the laggards being shot. The few that are lucky enough to escape find their houses being incinerated, spewing ash and acrid smoke. The people who are marching to the camp will face intense labor for the soldiers' party. However those that do not work, whether they are too old, stopped while a guard was watching, or refused would be given a slow torturous death, most likely in a flaming chimney. Other innocent people are being forced into gas chambers, groveling at the feet of their once friends or neighbors who have now turned to eradicating some, but potentially all of the prosecuted. Why? …The people who escaped the madness return to their houses, but despair because all they had lost in a mass of fire, blood, and shame. They may have the most important thing of all: Themselves, but what about their family, their previous friends, and their possessions. Some may recover! But to some their world might be lost. The punishment for the attackers will be SEVERE, they will serve the rest of their lives in prison, but unfortunately nobody can return the losses of the victims. The injustice can never be undone.”
Visions of Global Justice Art Contest
With a greater knowledge of global justice and the influential power of art, teens set out to portray their “vision” of global justice or injustice. Participants were asked to submit an image (drawing, painting, etc.) or a sculpture along with a description of how their artwork portrays international justice. The responses were moving, showing a deep dedication of time and effort towards spreading the message of human rights and global justice. Five winning pieces were selected by the panel of GK interns and staff at the judging event held in the newly created Visions of Global Justice Art Gallery.
Winners received L$5,000 as well as had a matching donation made to an organization of their choice. Winning artwork was featured in the opening of the International Justice Center as well. Congrats to everyone for their amazing creativity and support of global justice!
