Student Voice through Art
Student Leadership is blossoming all over the world! Art from all over the world is connecting our youth to big concepts like youth leadership and the Sustainable Development Goals. Youth from all around the world are taking action for change, and we would like to see those stories and those youth immortalised in your art.
QLC 2019 was proud to feature student art encapsulating the categories of:
- Youth Leadership
- Service to others
- The Sustainable Development Goals
Angela Armamento, Qatar International School
The materials used for my art are a big canvas, acrylic paint, and a ball pen and I finished my artwork on October 4,2019. My piece shows the glowing figure as a symbol of the young ones being the savior of the world. With our unity we can fulfill goals that were adopted by the United Nations. My artwork includes 4 SDG goals which are the climate action, life below water, sustainable cities and communities and gender equality. These goals were represented because the situation the world is in today is rooted to this goals that should have a solution quickly before everything goes out of hand and affects the people severely.
Habibah Nureniati, Qatar International School
The topic I picked was service to others, it’s an oil painting of children smiling in joy. The idea is that sometimes service to others isn’t only limited to helping each other physically , but a smile can also be service. It’s the small things that we often do and care about that will make a difference. A smile can make someone feel: welcomed, cared, respected and loved .To me this is what service to others is, showing your care.
Lamis Bareche, Compass International School
My piece of digital artwork depicts an emotional new mother holding her baby, who’s skin conveys the surface of planet earth. The piece is in light of SDG 3: good health and well-being, specifically, the targets which focus on maternal mortality rates and neonatal mortality. The young mother represents the lack of education on pregnancy and health that some countries unfortunately still suffer from, while her emotionality emphasizes the investment a mother will put into care for her child, and how this mirrors the priority that new generations are given as we collectively try to maintain and create a safe planet for them to grow up in. The ‘earth baby’ represents the fragility of our species and planet, and how much attention and tending is required to keep our collective home alive and well, similar to how a baby needs to be taken care of. A banner around the head of the mother is imprinted with “Dum spiro spero”, which is a Latin phrase that translates to ‘While I breathe, I hope’.
Nasya Owens, Qatar International School
The paintings depict the impact of the Sustainable Development Goals. I chose to focus on the specific goals of no poverty, the reduction of inequality and easy access to clean water and sanitation. I used water colours as a way to emphasise the need for accessible clean water in third world countries, while using colour pencil to create depth and vibrancy. This represents the inequality between sanitation and living conditions. The pipe filling with water flowing through the dirt, shows the wastage that first world countries drain and highlights what little amount those with no access to clean water receive. The floral barrier shows how people with greater privilege are somewhat oblivious to the negative repercussions and suffering that goes on.
Working on this piece has opened up my eyes to greater issues in the world and I hope it has the same impact on others.
Bayyo Nadyku Pane, Qatar International School
My art piece falls into the category of ‘ Sustainable Development Goals’ which are 17 different goals set in 2015 for 2030 to make the globe in peace and prosperity. I have chosen three global goals which are : climate action ; life below water and life on land. Moreover, I have separated the art piece into three prominent section. The bottom one is an illustration of an iceberg that has multiples holes on the holes on it. Though, I acknowledge that this is not icebergs, it significantly symbolises how us humans are indirectly shooting bullets towards the icebergs, which could eventually cause them to melt. This bottom half relates to the 14th Sustainable Development Goal ( Life Under Sea ). Moving on, the middle section of piece demonstrates as a flower being gradually eating by a dark matter while inside of it is the Earth. This represents that us humans exemplify the early dark matter because due to our exceeding global emissions, some plants could not survive from the sudden increase in temperature. The reason why there is a globe present in the middle of the flower is because plants are what protects the globe. If there are more trees in this world, then the world will be cooler because trees take in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen. And finally, the top section of the piece represents an urgent stop sign. A warning before doom. Since the first two sections are all about the issues of the world, the final piece shows us that we need to end hurting the plants or shooting the icebergs. The final section is also in red, which can heavily correlate to blood, this manifests how the climate change and the rise in sea level can deliberately affect us , harm us and even kill us in many ways.
Now discussing the materials that I have utilized. For the iceberg I have used white and blue acrylic paint, the holes would be from Faber castle blue and black pencils. The flower and tiny globe would be from colour pencils and the dark matter was made from acrylic. Ultimately, I have used a red spray paint to create the final section.
Yoel Lubis, Qatar International School
A white sneaker spray painted yellow, orange and red. A silhouette of a boy pointing spray painted onto the left shoe to represent youth and the phrase Live, Learn, Lead drawn onto the left shoe with a marker to represent leadership and the process. Paint was splattered onto the silhouette of the boy to represent reaching for the stars.
Jana Elokabi, Qatar International School
This piece is representative of the Sustainable Development Goals, a vision set by the United Nation in hopes of a better, brighter future for all. The global challenges we face are widespread and whether or not we choose to believe so, our struggles as mankind are interconnected in a complex web, one where actions will always lead to a consequence, a concept we often choose to turn a blind eye towards, whether due to pure ignorance or fear of the reality that we are facing: poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, the list goes on. Many have abandoned all hope for change, lost belief in our ability to adapt as humanity – but not all. Change happens at the grassroots, and whether we like it or not, we must act now. Man’s influence on the environment that once flourished around us has been catastrophic, with more than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth are estimated to have died out. This abhorrent figure should be enough to evoke a sense of absolute disgust within you. However, even in the midst of a mass extinction, one of the most fascinating life forms on the planet manages to adapt: the mushroom.
It’s no secret to anybody that plastics are becoming a serious problem in our oceans and landfills, but, turns out, mushrooms may be a profoundly useful alternative. By using mycelium – the mushroom’s root system – we are able to create a material that could completely eradicate our reliance on plastics, ticking three sustainable development goals. Another incredible feature of mushrooms is that they have the ability to deconstruct oil and petrochemicals and can break down many toxins into simpler, less toxic chemicals, ticking two more goals through their capability to cleanse pollutants from soil and water, two vital aspects of our survival. Finally, fungi play a crucial role in the balancing of ecosystems. The food web would be incomplete without these organisms that decompose organic matter. Some elements, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are required in large quantities by certain organisms; yet, they are not abundant in the environment. The action of fungi releases these elements from decaying matter, making them available to other living organisms, benefitting humans in the long run due to the interconnected food chain.
The point I’m trying to make is, if the mushroom can adapt, we can adapt. We can design, we can change, we can acclimatize to these changes, because if not now, when? There is no time for consideration or doubt, and as Greta Thunberg puts it: Our house is on fire. We either sit and do nothing, watching civilization deteriorate as a result of our own actions, or we do something, and leave nobody behind to burn.