Int’l jury announces 26 finalists of national art competition

ISLAMABAD, March 25 (APP):An international jury Sunday announced 26 finalists of a nationwide art competition on UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) here at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA).
Organized by the Embassy of Switzerland in collaboration with partners, the competition titled ‘We the Peoples, We the Arts’ invited students to produce art works in four categories, including sculpture, painting and miniature painting and print making, on themes related to 17 SDGs of the United Nations. Fine arts students aged 18 and above, enrolled in accredited Pakistani colleges and universities were eligible to participate.
Over 140 students from all over Pakistan sent their artwork in February. Gender equality, women’s empowerment, child rights, education, poverty and environment were recurrent themes of the artworks.
The first round of jury, comprising Ambassador of Austria to Pakistan Brigitta Blaha, Director of Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen Switzerland Giovanni Carmine, Head of Fine Arts Department, National College of Arts Lahore Quddus Mirza and Head of Cooperation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Islamabad, Stefanie Burri, took place at the PNCA from March 15-24. In the first phase, judges pre-selected 26 finalists, who will be invited to Islamabad to participate in the award ceremony on May 10, where they will be awarded 200 US dollars each.
The second round of jury will take place a day before the award ceremony, in which one winner from each category will be selected, who will be awarded 500 US dollars each.
Artworks from all the 26 finalists will feature in a high-quality catalogue and will be exhibited in major cities across Pakistan.
The finalists names in print making included Dua Rabbay, Karachi, Rameesha Azeem, Lahore, Ruqaia Abdul Aziz, Karachi, Shahid Malik, Lahore and Zainab Abdul Hussain, Karachi.
In miniature painting, the finalists included Gulsoom Musa, Karachi, Mahnoor Khawaja, Lahore, Nadia Batool, Rawalpindi, Rameesha Sarmad, Lahore, Zainab Amir, Lahore and Zunaira Farooq, Lahore.
Finalists in Sculpture included Ahsan Khurshid, Peshawar, Faheem Abdullah, Quetta, Mahoor Khan, Karachi, Syed Rameez, Karachi, Tahmina Anwar, Karachi and Warda Batool, Karachi.
Finalistst in painting included Haya Esbhani, Karachi, Muhammad Ibrahim, Peshawar, Murk Mangi, Lahore, Najeeb Ullah, Quetta, Rida Mehmood, Lahore, Tooba Ashraf, Lahore, Zoha Zafar, Lahore and Zunaira Malik, Rawalpindi.
‘We the Peoples, We the Arts’ is an art competition that aims to involve young artists in promoting the SDGs. The Swiss embassy first launched the competition in 2016 in collaboration with the UN Information Centre and several other partners.
The first edition involved students of five leading art schools across Pakistan, who produced sculptures, paintings and miniature paintings, highlighting the theme of Zero Hunger; the second of 17 SDGs. Building on the success of this initiative, partners decided to launch its second edition and expand participation and thematic areas of the competition to include all the 17 SDGs.
The SDGs are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. By 2030, with these new Goals that universally apply to all, countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.
The SDGs address the most pressing global challenges of our time, calling upon collaborative partnerships across and between countries to balance the three dimensions of sustainable development,economic growth, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion.