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Featured here are just some
examples of the community volunteer work undertaken by Cathy Bird. They range
from:
ARTE PARA TODOS Event - July 2004
Selected for
participation as a UK artist in Arte Para Todos 2004 (Art for All), an
event organized by the United Nations Development Team in Honduras, hosted by
the First Lady Aguas Ocana de Maduro. This event took Cathy, along with many
other muralists and sculptors, to the city of Tegucigalpa in Honduras where she
and they created murals and sculptures all over the city - each one inspired
by, and exemplying, one of the Millennnium Development Goals.
Cathy's
mural portrayed Honduran women and their babies, and was inspired by the
Millennnium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing infant mortality by
two-thirds.
Here is a letter from Anna Berardi, UN staff member,
Tegucigalpa, Honduras showing that Cathy's work not only enhanced the city
itself, but also extended to being of use for a UN publication AIDS /
HIV.
"Dear Mrs Cathy Bird:
First of all, congratulations for
your beautiful coloured mural about mothers and children! I'm Anna Berardi,
UNAIDS Communication Adviser in Honduras. During the event "Arte Para Todos" I
had the chance to know your work that I really enjoy! The reason of my email is
to ask for your permission to publish your mural's image in our brochure.
In these days we are quite ending up the creation of the UN AIDS'
official brochure in Honduras. We'd like to put your mural's image in the title
page as the image evokes the importance of prevention in HIV/AIDS, especially
for preventing the big quantity of children orphans due to the epidemic. The
other reason for which we'd like to use your image is because it is "something"
which will stay for ever in Honduras and could represent a point of reference
for local people. You will find in attachment a copy of the brochure's title
page.
I would like to ask you officially your permission and opinion
about it. We need to know it in order to keep on working with the brochure's
printing. I thank you in advance for your kind attention and I give you again
my congratulations for your nice work!
Best regards, Anna
Berardi"
Cover of AIDS booklet featuring Cathy Bird's mural published by
the United Nations Development Team of Honduras
YOUTH FOR HUMAN
RIGHTS EUROPEAN ARTS FESTIVAL, CAMELOT CASTLE - August 2005
Over two
days, a gathering of 35 Youth for Human Rights Delegates (aged between
12 and 20) took place at Camelot Castle in Tintagel.
Their aim; to use
the powerful tool of Art to raise awareness of the Human Rights . . . They came
from all over Europe and also the USA The MP for North Cornwall opened the
event, with the young people carrying in the flags of all nations and placing
them in the Conference room. A sight that brought a lump to many a throat, I am
sure. As Art Director, I orchestrated three projects: murals, a glow garden and
kites for Human Rights
HUMAN RIGHTS GLOW GARDEN : This
installation in the form of a garden of 155 flowers made from glow sticks gave
the message that one flower glowing alone would spread its light and warmth to
other flowers and together they would make a glow that would light up the
world! To walk between these gently swaying flowers was a beautiful and
entrancing experience. Even in the light of the next morning, when they glowed
no longer, they made an aesthetic picture, gleaming white among the grasses and
still continuing gently to sway.
Just outside Camelot Castle, looking out towards the sea cliff,
the glow garden created with the flowers fashioned by each of the Youth for
Human Rights delegates looked magic at night.
KITES FOR HUMAN
RIGHTS :The Kite was based on a traditional Chinese design and was 17 kites
long! Each kite bore an image representing a basic Human Right - strung
together and launched against the stunning backdrop of Tintagel, they flew far
and free.
A
young Sikh delegate of the Youth for Human Rights festival at Camelot Castle
flies the 17 kite-long string.
HUMAN RIGHTS MURAL
ONE: Depicts a dead tree in the desert, which has produced a single,
beautiful flower - thus asserting The Right to Life. Birds fly above with a
central motif of two birds crossing, one black, one white - the white one
flying towards the portion of the mural where the desert has turned into a
green landscape with flowers.
Youth for Human Rights delegates displaying their mural against
the beautiful backdrop of the Cornwall coastline.
HUMAN
RIGHTS MURAL TWO: features various religious symbols and other global
representations on a bright, purple background. Most striking are two faces
produced by two Sikh children. Each face divided into segments, each segment
representing a different race - the message being that we are all the same
under the skin.
One
of the two murals painted by Youth for Human Rights
delegates.
Future
Community Events:
I will be helping young people to create
Human Rights murals/artworks in:
BRIGHTON - East Sussex - October 2005
PARIS - France - November 2005
CARDIFF -Wales - March 2006
If
you would like to assist or organise a Youth for Human Rights Awareness
project in your area - please contact
me! For more information about the Youth for Human Rights campaing, see
http://youthforhumanrights.org.uk |
