The Open Call for the Social Art Award 2019 under the topic “We are the People – Peaceful Revolutions” was closed on December 15, 2019. We are very impressed by 558 submissions that were contributed by artists coming from 65 countries across all continents.
The winners of The Social Art Award 2019 are Narcissa Gold (USA), Melinda Mouzannar (Lebanon) and Bogna Grazyna Jaroslawski (Poland/Germany). The Honorary Mention goes to Kingson Kin Sing Chan (Hong Kong/UK).
Below you find the artworks, that passed the initial jury round. The public voting took place till 30 December and is a tool to give more public visibility to the topic and the artworks. It does not replace the final jury judgment. There were two wildcards for the most voted artworks that entered the final shortlist.
The focus diversity of applications shows that artists are active in the multi-faceted fields of socially engaged art reflecting on wars, genocides, femicides, traumata, violence against refugees, children, women, men, disabled people, LGBTIQs, animals. They share feelings for the planet and its living species, but also showing hopelessness due to complex crises be it climate change (e.g. in regard to water pollution), capitalism, corruption, a violation against human rights, nature, protected national parks. Many of the artists are constantly trying to give a voice to the poorest or empower unheard social groups.
It’s not only about peaceful revolutions, but it’s also about feeling a deep connection and showing love and respect for each other.
Thank you all for sharing your great and inspirational work and look at all the great contributions!
DESIRE
PRADIP KUMAR SAU
open category
Life is a journey from womb to tomb. During this journey Man is in constant search of the Infinite with his finite possibilities. The material aspects of life like desire, ambition, yearning for name and fame pull him constantly down to the earth. Yet the Search continues. Search for what? … It is the Search for what can at least partly be attained, being detached from all the material aspects. That is why human being figures in most of my paintings. On one hand man tries to maintain his existence by sticking to material aspects of life. On the other hand he ignores his mere physical existence only to attain something beyond his material longings. He tries to tear asunder the hard realities of life. He begins to dream --- the kind of Dream that tries to touch the Infinite. The colour of man’s Dream is blue. Dream tries to get to the Sky, which is Infinite, Vast and immense. That which is infinite and immense expresses itself in blue. So the colour Blue and the Infinite get merged into one cosmic hue --- that is Blue. The Moon in some of my paintings is suggestive of the personification of Dream, Hope etc. And the triangular shape expresses the Heart’s ascension. Herein lies the co-existence Dream and heart Reality of life, simply because human heart is the accouchement of Dream, but Dream feels drawn towards the Infinite against the Heart’s gravitation. PRADIP KUMAR SAU
Life is a journey from womb to tomb. During this journey Man is in constant search of the Infinite with his finite possibilities. The material aspects of life like desire, ambition, yearning for name and fame pull him constantly down to the earth. Yet the Search continues. Search for what? … It is the Search for what can at least partly be attained, being detached from all the material aspects. That is why human being figures in most of my paintings. On one hand man tries to maintain his existence by sticking to material aspects of life. On the other hand he ignores his mere physical existence only to attain something beyond his material longings. He tries to tear asunder the hard realities of life. He begins to dream --- the kind of Dream that tries to touch the Infinite. The colour of man’s Dream is blue. Dream tries to get to the Sky, which is Infinite, Vast and immense. That which is infinite and immense expresses itself in blue. So the colour Blue and the Infinite get merged into one cosmic hue --- that is Blue. The Moon in some of my paintings is suggestive of the personification of Dream, Hope etc. And the triangular shape expresses the Heart’s ascension. Herein lies the co-existence Dream and heart Reality of life, simply because human heart is the accouchement of Dream, but Dream feels drawn towards the Infinite against the Heart’s gravitation. PRADIP KUMAR SAU