The engagement of artists in addressing issues pertaining to open defecation through visual arts was launched today at the Alliance Française of Accra. Mr. Kweku Quansah, Director of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MoLG) launched the event, in the presence of more than 50 artists whose medium of art included painting, sculpture, photography and videography. He said “I am extremely happy that the artists responded to this call to participate in such an important endeavour. It is important to challenge the social and cultural norms and artists can play a critical role in contributing to the elimination of open defecation through visual arts. This is a great value addition to the Government programme on the elimination of open defecation”.
Esse Dabla, Cultural Officer at the Alliance Française of Accra welcomed the participants and said “After the successful collaboration on the ‘Wash Wana Hands’ song and video clip last year, we are very happy that UNICEF is supporting the Alliance Française on this programme. The Alliance Française is also very proud to embark on this new exciting adventure with local artists”.
The programme is intentionally named “Let’s talk sh*t” with the purpose of generating attention on the matters using colloquial words. Susan Namondo Ngongi, UNICEF Representative said “We should not be ashamed of using the word sh*t. What is shocking is the fact that 5 million Ghanaians are defecating in the open and that 43% of schools are not equipped with proper sanitation or even do not have water! While the title of the programme may sound shocking to some people, it is expected to generate attention and initiate a dialogue on the issue”.
Fabrice Laurentin, Communication for Development (C4D) Officer at UNICEF introduced the objectives and themes of the programme and discussed the specific roles of the Ministry of Local Government, the Alliance Française and UNICEF in terms of this collaboration. He said “it is expected that this collaboration will demonstrate that visual art can contribute to arouse critical thinking and place this issue in the public sphere and hopefully create a buzz.”
Nana Osei Kwadwo, Project Manager at the Alliance Française for the ‘Let’s talk sh*t’ intervention presented the schedule of the programme as well as explained that among the submissions received by the artists, only the best 20 projects will be commissioned. He also said that a series of exhibitions will take place at the Alliance Française in September and will then tour selected regions affected by open defecation, in the presence of the artists so that a dialogue can directly be generated with community members. He added that “visual artists in Ghana are usually not seen as agents of change but rather as people who produce aesthetic artwork only.
This programme provides the artist community with a great opportunity to show that their role is not about ‘decoration’ or beauty but about engaging on social issues.”
As the next step, the artists will have to submit their proposals by 3rd of August.
Distributed by APO on behalf of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Source: Apo-Opa
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