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!
Peaceful Protests Bogota
Valentin Wedde
open category
On 21 November 2019 protests began in Colombia against the current government of the country. These continue until today (5.12.2019). For the most part, the protests were very peaceful, only overshadowed by a few violent riots in the early days. In the media, the images of vandalism were sent over the course of days and that also related to the behavior of the citizens who went peacefully on the street every day. Since my family lives in Europe, I have learned that there is also reported exclusively about the violent riots. My observations of the protests were that every day hundreds of thousands of young people took to the streets and demonstrated peacefully. With my photographs I wanted to draw attention to the happy side of the demonstrations. My pictures will be on display at the beginning of next year in an exhibition in the city center of Bogota.
On 21 November 2019 protests began in Colombia against the current government of the country. These continue until today (5.12.2019). For the most part, the protests were very peaceful, only overshadowed by a few violent riots in the early days. In the media, the images of vandalism were sent over the course of days and that also related to the behavior of the citizens who went peacefully on the street every day. Since my family lives in Europe, I have learned that there is also reported exclusively about the violent riots. My observations of the protests were that every day hundreds of thousands of young people took to the streets and demonstrated peacefully. With my photographs I wanted to draw attention to the happy side of the demonstrations. My pictures will be on display at the beginning of next year in an exhibition in the city center of Bogota.