1) What topic did you choose for your art and why did you pick it?
For my artwork, I focused on the attacks of children with albinism in Tanzania. Witchdoctors in Tanzania will often mutilate or murder albino children to sell their body parts on the illegal market. Albinos are thought to be created from affairs with white men and their body parts are thought to bring good luck. I chose this topic for my artwork because not very many people know about it and I want to bring awareness to these children's plight.
For my artwork, I focused on the attacks of children with albinism in Tanzania. Witchdoctors in Tanzania will often mutilate or murder albino children to sell their body parts on the illegal market. Albinos are thought to be created from affairs with white men and their body parts are thought to bring good luck. I chose this topic for my artwork because not very many people know about it and I want to bring awareness to these children's plight.
2) Why did you pick the images that you used in your artwork?
I picked the image of the children playing at a refugee center to show how innocent these children are. I also wanted to emphasize that even though these kids have albinism, they're just like us and don't deserve what happens to them. The money and blood around the children represents the money that witchdoctors make on the black market and the bloodshed this causes. I wanted viewers to have to think about what the parts of my artwork mean so that they'll be forced to think about the issue at hand.
I picked the image of the children playing at a refugee center to show how innocent these children are. I also wanted to emphasize that even though these kids have albinism, they're just like us and don't deserve what happens to them. The money and blood around the children represents the money that witchdoctors make on the black market and the bloodshed this causes. I wanted viewers to have to think about what the parts of my artwork mean so that they'll be forced to think about the issue at hand.
3) Did you have to work through any challenges during this project?
The planning process was difficult for me because I didn't know how to condense such a complicated issue into one piece of art. Then, I wasn't sure how to best show the violence that these children face without dehumanizing them. It was really important to me that viewers saw first how young and innocent the children are before seeing the violence. Finally, I struggled to find a way to creatively show that this is happening in Tanzania, as opposed to other countries. I decided to color part of the background to look like the Tanzanian flag and I think that turned out very well.
The planning process was difficult for me because I didn't know how to condense such a complicated issue into one piece of art. Then, I wasn't sure how to best show the violence that these children face without dehumanizing them. It was really important to me that viewers saw first how young and innocent the children are before seeing the violence. Finally, I struggled to find a way to creatively show that this is happening in Tanzania, as opposed to other countries. I decided to color part of the background to look like the Tanzanian flag and I think that turned out very well.