Dubai: Thousands of people jetting off from Dubai International Airport now have the chance to view imaginative artwork by young Emirati students.
The Rivers of the World exhibition by 11- to 14-year-old pupils from all over the world is on display at Dubai International Airport.
Celebrating the Dubai Creek and other great rivers of the world such as the Thames, students learn about their local river environment and compare it to other rivers in the world.
“This exhibition is a feather in the cap for Dubai and a contributor towards our campaign to have Dubai Creek listed as a Unesco world heritage site,” said Rashid Bukhash, director of the architecture heritage department at Dubai Municipality.
“The ‘Rivers of the World’ project supports this campaign. It is a very good contribution to the community because students learn how important it is to know about the Dubai Creek. They learn about the relation between man and river because after all the Creek is the heart of Dubai,” he said.
The ‘Rivers of the World’ project was first launched in the UAE in October 2011 — with approval from the Ministry of Education.
It establishes international links between all participating schools from places including London (UK), Sylhet (Bangladesh), Surakarta (Indonesia), Dubai (UAE) and Jhelum (Pakistan).
Six UAE government schools are taking part in this project, including Nad Al Hammar School for Girls and Omar Bin Al Khattab Model School for Boys.
It is an art and education project of the Thames Festival, delivered in partnership with the British Council. The Thames Festival Trust is a London-based non-profitable charitable trust.
“This project helps Emirati students have a clearer sense about their national identity. Last year’s project helped students gain a clearer understanding about the UAE. This year’s project has helped them understand more about the UK, exploring the River Thames,” said Priya Nandagopal, project manager for school’s education at the British Council in the UAE.
Students from the UAE worked in collaboration with local artists Khalid Mezaina and Layan Attari to produce their artworks.
This year 46 artworks were selected for the exhibition, prepared collaboratively by students and artists from the UAE and other countries — six of which are artworks prepared by UAE schoolchildren.
The project aims to highlight the importance of art in schools, as well as celebrating cultural exchange — building appreciation of different rivers worldwide.
Since 2006 more than 11,500 students and 500 teachers in 18 different countries have participated in the ‘Rivers of the World’ project.
It is estimated that one million people will see the artwork produced through different exhibitions all over the world, especially now that the UAE exhibition is located in Dubai International Airport — the third busiest airport worldwide by international passenger traffic.
“I produced this piece of artwork with 10 other girls in my school. It is about pollution in the Dubai Creek and we used cartoons to create a collage and then we drew on top of the cartoons. I am so happy and proud to have achieved this,” said 14-year-old Hafsa Karam, from the Nad Al Hammar School for girls.
Last year’s exhibition was held at Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood — attracting more than 3,000 visitors and students.
Elisar Sasso is an intern at Gulf News
