I. Derechos Humanos • Human Rights Portfolio by Oaxaca and Cincinnati Artists
This Derechos Humanos/Human Rights Portfolio of Woodcut Prints, a project of SOS ART in collaboration with Taller Burro Press in Oaxaca, Mexico, consists of 25 prints by 12 artists from Oaxaca and 12 artists from Cincinnati, each addressing one of 12 Human Rights (Right to Health, Non-Violence, Freedom, Home, Environment, Equality, Non-Discrimination, Justice, Work, Education, Free Choice, Democracy), and the 25th print, the title page, created by an artist from Cincinnati.
The purpose of the portfolio was to challenge artists to create images and messages around human rights through a collaborative process across different cultures. The participating artists are widely exhibited and known internationally.
The portfolio was printed in an edition of 50, each print in black and white, 12×12” centered on a 15×15” 250 g cotton paper.
If interested in knowing more about the portfolio or about its availability, please contact SOS ART at sosartcincinnati@gmail.com
“Barbed wire constrains human movement, and for me, represents the oppression of human rights and freedoms. For the cover, I wanted to represent both cities coming together to overcome our struggles for human rights. The cover features Cincinnati’s skyline, bridges and river, Oaxaca’s Santo Domingo Cathedral, Agave plants and mountains. To further the idea of cross-cultural connectedness, I decided to weave the English and Spanish words for “human rights” together in a way that highlights the similarities between the two languages. I have firsthand experienced printmaking with artists in both Cincinnati and Oaxaca and I love both communities. In my experience, the arts are a way to break through cultural barriers and learn more about each other.”
“My woodcut print on the theme of Health and Well-being represents the face of a person that emerges from water and breathes; a part of the body that symbolically represents the intellect. It is common that we show only a part of ourselves, keeping us hidden from neck to toe, both physically and spiritually, trying to cope with the symptoms of the human condition, i.e. trying to survive. In front of the face, a hand appears; it symbolizes the divine part that heals or makes sick. We can also see a snake moving between light and shadow, as a being that transforms, renews and helps us find personal well-being.”
“Health-Wellbeing for me represents access to good medicine in a loving, nurturing community. Throughout the Americas indigenous people have practiced holistic healing with plant-based medicines, but their lifeways have been continuously threatened or completely annihilated by imperial, colonial forces. In Oaxaca, the flowers of Macpalxochitl (Nahuatl for palm flower), árbol de las manitas (Spanish) or Chiranthodendron pentadactylon are effective to treat diarrhea, dysentery, and stomach pain particularly in children. This medicinal practice hangs on by a thread because the tree is now endangered due to habitat destruction and climate change. I am a member of the Shawnee Tribe whose family members were forcibly removed from Ohio c. 1833. I now live on lands they once inhabited. The Shawnee’s medicinal plant knowledge was renowned and valued by numerous other tribes. They used Melaaki (Shawnee for snakeroot), cohosh (Algonquin) or Cimicifuga racemosa to treat fevers, particularly in children, and also to treat depression in adults by boiling it into a tea. It was also ground up and used as a snake repellent. Melaaki has had particular significance in my own health as an alternative to the hormone therapies, anti-depressants and other drugs that doctors typically prescribe for the treatment of menstrual irregularities and menopausal symptoms.”
“My piece ATZATZILISTLI reflects the cultural and historical diversity of the state of Guerrero. The image, in which the four characters form a union like a rose window of jaguars, expresses the ancestral tradition of a drop of blood for a drop of rain. Called atzatzilistli, this pre-Hispanic tradition is still alive. Thus, mother earth fed with blood – in indigenous thought it is believed that we eat from the earth because the earth eats us – for this reason she should not be offended. With my image I seek to represent the current problems of our state which are violence, drug trafficking, social inequality and migration; we see in the image the four tecuanas in the different positions of the hands. Guerrero is where the jaguar is born, as we say the tecuan, and each of these Tecuan women represents a goddess who grants the seed to man and asks for the rain that represents Tlaloc. It is there where each year men and women gather to be able to give our tradition a little blood, a little food. However, now our territory is full of bones, blood, graves of the lost, the disappeared and the dead. It is there where the Tecuan mothers continue to support the state with the hope that this can change, that the rain returns, that the field germinates, that the forests grow again so that elders in Guerrero die standing up.”
Self Portrait 2020, A Face of Non-Violence in a Violent World:
“There is no quality of soul more subtle than non-violence” ~ Mahavira. “As I sit in my car, driving my teenage daughter and a couple of her friends, I listen to their discussions of their recent dreams. One dreamt jumping off of a building and crashing onto the concrete; another about hanging from a bridge and falling into the water. As I am clearly disturbed they assure me this was normal, what their bodies wanted in order to get relief from the anxiety and stress they are feeling, and that after the impact they would feel better and go simply about life. It was on this day that the theme of my print became about violence to self and the struggle to deal with these current mentalities. It struck me then that the current maternal focus is our fight to protect our children from contemporary culture. Every awareness and path I went down while studying the theme non-violence/security kept bringing me back to the SELF. Studies on Tolstoy, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ahimsa, Jainism, Jesus, all led back to peace with the inner self as the remedy for violence. While I attempted several times to draw my portrait with a slight smile on my face, it ultimately showed more grief and contemplation. Tolstoy’s words, “There can only be one revolution – a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man”, are now locked in the mind of this 2020 self-portrait and become one of her guiding principles.”
“The theme of my woodcut print is Freedom, without a doubt one of the most precious rights for every living being, and of course opposite to oppression or slavery represented here by broken cages and bent wires. My print also represents the battle of each being in search of his freedom. Without a doubt, the fighting spirit and spiritual strength are essential requirements to obtain it, but also the awareness of our own fragility which helps us understand that it is with our strength, but also with faith, that we can obtain victory, raising our wings towards a sky of infinite possibilities.”
“Climate change is the biggest threat to everyone’s liberty.”
“The theme of my print is the right to Home. In its image I represent the overcrowding in which we live in the world, where it is increasingly impossible to acquire a decent home; but at the same time we seek to get closer to nature and domesticate it, looking for freedom in that idea of habitat that we have, until we die.”
“For my woodcut print concerning the topic of Home, I chose to explore President Trump U.S. administration’s destructive determination to limit access to housing opportunities sought through immigration by constructing new segments of border wall. In addition to denying our fellow man these opportunities, such structures along the U.S.-Mexico border also threaten wildlife corridors. The jaguar depicted is one of many species whose habitats are affected. By examining the plight of these creatures, this design seeks to comment on the relentless lack of empathy such barriers embody.”
“The theme of my woodcut print is the Environment. Our habitat is disappearing every day due to human impact on ecosystems. Global warming is modifying forests, deserts, jungles, seas, glaciers and is destroying many species of plants and animals that inhabit them, from the smallest insects to large mammals. No species is exempt from disappearing one day, even humans.”
“In 2010, I became deeply affected by the Deep Water Horizon (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Millions of gallons of oil spewed from the well into the ocean and the long-term effects are still unknown. Eighty-seven days elapsed before the well was capped but questions still remain about the long-term effects of the spill on the environment, safety regulations and company negligence. That tragic event changed my trajectory as an artist from making work about the over-consumption of material goods to fossil fuels. My recent work incorporates sculptures, paintings and prints that use the over-consumption of fossil fuels (non-material based consumption) as their central theme. Powerful oil and coal companies have an overwhelming grip on all our lives, from our daily activities to our political systems. We are manipulated into consuming more every day. The addictive use of these fuels is a significant cause of climate change. The abuse of these technologically outdated fuels, the structure of our current society and political system, and the unwillingness to change are all factors that can and will be devastating to our environment and our lives. Change needs to happen now, not for our grandchildren, but for us, in the present.”
“The theme of my print is Equality. Its image is composed of two silhouettes of roughly the same height and proportion, including symbols of apparently opposite nature that complement each other; human beings, plants and animals coexisting in a balanced graphic representation.”
“My print is about the human right of Equality. Like most people, I want to believe that the iconic Madison Avenue image of a group of cute multiracial babies means that every child looks forward to a bright future of equal opportunity. Upon closer examination, it’s clear that we have not yet attained that ideal. Certainly, being born white in the United States is no guarantee of success, but for minority kids, the American Dream is even harder to achieve. Among the life-long disparities people of color face are stark differences in income, health, and treatment by the criminal justice system.
a) Income: Racial discrimination in education, hiring, and pay practices contributes to persistent earnings gaps. As of the last quarter of 2019, the median White worker made 28 percent more than the median Black worker, and more than 35 percent more than the median Latino worker.
b) Health: Racial and ethnic minorities in the United States experience many forms of health disparities, including higher rates of chronic disease and premature death compared to the rates among Whites. For example, Native Americans are twice as likely to have diabetes as Whites, and the average lifespan of a White male is almost 75 years while Black men, on average, live 67.5 years.
c) Criminal Justice: According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Blacks are incarcerated five times more than Whites are, and Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to be incarcerated as Whites.
Recognizing the myth of the “level playing field” is the first step toward rectifying these disparities.”
“While working on my woodcut print on the theme of Discrimination, I found that I identify myself personally with its subject as I have experienced it at various times in my life. The image represents faces coming out of each other as the universal, unique being without any distinction of race, sex, color. The discriminatory barriers that humanity has established have caused many calamities between peoples and nations, including wars. I believe firmly in humanity and in the capacity we all have as individuals to reestablish cordiality and say no to discrimination.”
“Non-Discrimination is a deep acceptance and respect of every and all human beings’ uniqueness and a positive appreciation and valuation of their difference and of their special contribution to this world. Non-Discrimination is essential for a peaceful and harmonious life on this EARTH. Hatred and bigotry, on the other hand, are refusal of the other who differs from us in some way; they are acquired and introduced in us by society. Born to begin the journey to death, earthlings bear no hatred; hate is planted in the young, never to be forgotten. Life is so short, let these discriminatory hateful words I have carved in wood fade away, because in the end, we are all the same. Human beings are all just STARDUST in the Universe forever.”
“Justice is a myth, and if it exists, it is dying, kidnapped, guarded and sold to whomever has the economic power to buy it. In Mexico there are many people who die without having known justice.”
“I grew up in rural northern Indiana. My Grandmother and Mother canned vegetables from our gardens every year. They would line up these sterilized jars on a gingham tablecloth covered kitchen table. Once canned, these mason jars filled with our hard work were ready to be set on a shelf, forgotten about until they were needed. My topic Justice reminded me of this delayed reward, sitting on the shelf, earned from our hard work and toil and accessible whenever we wanted it. For many, justice is something that has been canned and put on a shelf, and which despite their work and struggle remains largely inaccessible. We have cliché phrases in our language such as, ‘can it’ and ‘put a lid on it’ things said to encourage one to stop talking. It is time we take these jars off the shelf, place them on the table and open them up for all to partake from. In my print I wanted to show a human in struggle/resistance contained by the jar, which is sitting on a receding checkerboard/gingham pattern. The outside pattern is from a handkerchief and the edge border is based off a rope.”
“The right to Work is considered, worldwide, one of the fundamental rights of human beings. Capitalism, however, in its stages of economic crisis, discards the labor of thousands of workers and increases the hours of exploitation, in order to mitigate its losses. There is a constant class struggle, represented by the bourgeois owner of the means of production opposed by the working class.”
“In my print, Nature prescribes collective action to the afflicted Laborer.”
“My print on the right to Education represents the elephant as a metaphor for the child who grows up unprotected by his parents, a very common occurrence in Latin America and within minorities alienated by history. The basis of human development is linked to the relationship with our parents and with our environment; taking away or depriving ourselves of this opportunity lead to a void in our development and in how we operate in the world.”
“The title of my woodcut print is ‘The Most Powerful Weapon’. The inspiration for its image addressing the right to Education comes from Nelson Mandela’s statement, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” The composition is loosely based on Eugene Delacroix’s painting, ‘Liberty Leading the People’. The weapons in the painting have been replaced with pen, pencil and books. The central figure uses a pen to penetrate dark clouds, bathing the scene in light, symbolizing the illuminating power of education. The seven books carried by the trio symbolize the seven core subjects of education: The Arts, Language, Science, Math, Technology, Social Sciences, and Health and Physical Education.”
“The theme of my woodcut print is Free Choice. Mining in the communities of Oaxaca and Mexico has created serious environmental problems, with associated health problems in the population. Communities have organized to reject “support” and the installation of new mining companies whose main objective is to exploit their natural resources. In addition to all the social and environmental damages that mining activity produces, there is serious social damage generated by the mere fact of concessioning the territories to the mining companies so that they can increase their coffers. These companies, making use of broad and favorable rights, can maintain their concessions for years through little work and a meager payment of rights in return, while obtaining juicy profits on the stock markets. They can, in turn, sell the concession to another company and speculate at their convenience; but what they sell is not a private property but a right granted by the nation in its capacity as the original owner of the subsoil. On this subsoil live people who see their daily lives disrupted by the threat that at any time and without being consulted a mining project can be installed in their territories. It is the determination of the peoples against foreign business purposes.”
“Although explicit political work is not typically my preferred subject matter, these times have pushed me into activism, in particular on the part of women and women’s health. I mined the recent past in relation to abortion practices and remedies, and was surprised to find many very public options, all quite similar to the Empress Brand by Robert J Pierce, I based my print on. I found that these at home remedies thrived in the early 1900’s and were mostly ignored until the women entered her 2nd trimester. Prior to this, abortions seemed to be tolerated. The tinctures created and sold were for the most part, just a form of snake oil, and old wife tales, not terribly effective. Not surprisingly, I have found an uptick in these home remedies in our current intolerant environment, and only hope that Ruth Bader Ginsberg*, the now 87 years old associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, can hold onto her seat of power long enough to preserve a scientific and medically sound access to abortions at all times for women today and in the future.”
* Ruth Bader Ginsberg died on September 18, 2020
“My print on the theme of Democracy is a tribute to the peoples of Mexico, who have the freedom to demand their rights for the common good, always fighting against injustices in search of equality.”
“For my print, I considered how fragile the concept of Democracy can be. A common motif for democratic values is the lit torch, providing light in what can be a dark world. Democracy, sadly, seems to constantly be under threat, symbolized by the snake. Can the torch fend off the powers of those who aim to dismantle it? Can the light continue to shine?”
II. Human Rights Portfolio by Indian Artists
This Human Rights Portfolio of Woodcut Prints by Indian artists, a project of SOS ART in collaboration with Prof. Anant Nikam and Dot Line Space, Mumbai, India, consists of 13 prints by 12 artists from India, each addressing one of 12 human rights (the same ones addressed by the artists from Oaxaca and Cincinnati), the 13th print being the Cover page.
Its purpose was to expand the similar portfolios by Oaxaca and Cincinnati artists and to challenge artists to create images and messages around human rights through a collaborative process across different cultures. The participating artists are widely exhibited and known internationally.
The portfolio was printed in an edition of 25, each print in black and white, 12×12” centered on a 15×15” 250 g cotton paper.
If interested in knowing more about the portfolio or about its availability, please contact SOS ART at sosartcincinnati@gmail.com
Portfolio Case of Human Rights Portfolio, India
Colophon of Human Rights Portfolio, India
Title Page by Prapti Chavanke, India
“My print represents the essence of human rights in India, as guaranteed by the Constitution. It explores themes of equality, justice, and freedom. The scales of justice symbolize fairness, while hands breaking barbed wire represent liberation from oppression. The Ashoka Chakra anchors the artwork in India’s constitutional values. Bold lines and contrasting textures emphasize the resilience and enduring nature of these rights, even amidst challenges. My print serves as a call to action, reminding us of our shared duty to uphold and protect these fundamental principles for all.”
Health by Urmila V.G., India
“As a fundamental human right, physical and mental Health have become recently a significant area of concern due to increased and alarming situations of universal health issues such as pandemics. My work emphasizes the need to protect oneself from the uneasy and disturbing health related situations caused by various circumstances. In continuation with my body of work titled ‘Contained’, my print incorporates images of a pillow contained within a protective glass jar against contrasting surroundings as metaphors.”
Non-Violence by Durgadas Garai, India
“My print emphasizes the fundamental right to live free from violence and in security, ensuring existence without fear of physical, emotional, or structural harm. The central figure, enclosed by vertical bars, suggests confinement or imprisonment, a metaphor for those trapped in cycles of violence, oppression, or systemic injustice. The surrounding swirling clouds symbolize turmoil, uncertainty, or the pervasive nature of fear and aggression. The staircase to the side may signify a potential escape or a path to freedom and security; it appears, however, disconnected, emphasizing the difficulty of breaking free from these oppressive conditions. The stark contrast of black and white intensifies the sense of duality—conflict versus resolution, oppression versus hope. The use of negative space around the composition draws attention to the entrapment in the center, isolating it as a focal point for the viewer’s reflection, stressing the need for safety and Non-Violence.”
Freedom by Priya Bambal, India
“Women in India are full of potential, capable of learning any new skill and scale new heights in every sector. Every day, however, they are starved of their right to freedom, dealing with a variety of restrictions from family and society. Most of the times they are under constant scrutiny, being looked at and treated as objects of satisfaction rather than equivalent human beings. When Indian women will get their fair share of right to freedom, it will be a whole new horizon for India as a country and for the world as a whole.”
Home by Kiran Gunjal, India
“My artwork explores the profound impact of war on children in Gaza, a region marked by conflict and instability. The right to a Home is a fundamental human right critically important to children in Gaza, where ongoing conflict and economic challenges have severely impacted living conditions. Many children face homelessness or live in overcrowded, unsafe environments due to the destruction of homes by armed conflicts and the blockade that restricts access to construction materials. This precarious situation often results in inadequate basic services like clean water, sanitation, and electricity, all essential for health and for a normal development.”
Environment by Kumar Misal, India
“As a child growing up on a farm, I developed a deep-rooted connection to nature. My artwork explores the intricate relationship between humans and the Environment. Inspired by the harmonious coexistence I witnessed in rural life, I aim to challenge the urban disconnect. My print depicts a farmer standing by a river, symbolizing the unity of humans and nature. By merging human and natural elements, I seek to emphasize the importance of nurturing our planet rather than exploiting it. Ultimately, I hope to inspire viewers to reconnect with the natural world and appreciate the delicate balance between humanity and nature.”
Equality by Ankita Daulatabadkar, India
“My print on human rights confronts the pervasive inequalities embedded in society, emphasizing the fight for Equality, here addressed by intricate and symbolic elements. A fragmented and chaotic societal structure, with cracked patterns and disjointed spaces in the background, suggests inequality and disruption. Symbolic objects such as books represent societal constructs, intellectual discourse, and the persistence of ideologies that perpetuate inequality. Rats scattered throughout serve as metaphors for mischievous and exploitative elements of society, thriving in environments of imbalance and disarray. They contrast with the hand, symbolizing human agency, struggle, or helplessness, amidst a fractured system. The interplay of light and darkness creates a narrative of conflict between hope and despair. The use of black and white accentuates the starkness of the issues, symbolizing at the same time the binary nature of equality – justice versus injustice.”
Non-Discrimination by Moutushi Chakraborty, India
“My print ‘Still I Rise’ speaks of the universal language of tolerance and the determination to stand up against discrimination of any kind, be it gender, color or race. Its title is inspired by Maya Angelou’s poem by the same name, that speaks of a quiet, yet stoic defiance laced in humor. It shows a woman stomped upon by a booted foot, even as she clenches her knuckles in defiance of the oppression. It embodies a protest against the recent heinous rape and murder of a student doctor in my city.”
Justice by Rajat Halder, India
“Human right to Justice implies to protect people and ensure they can live free from torture, fear, discrimination, harassment… within impartiality and equality. Human rights, however, are often disregarded and revoked when seen as obstacles to political and economic objectives. In my print ‘Asura Dalani’ I try to depict the worthless current judicial system in a satirical way, judiciary being sold for money, victimized women not getting justice. It shows woman power, a woman taking the broken judicial system into her own hand, emerging as ‘Asura Dalani’, the suppressor of evils and the defender of law, to protect human rights. She has been incarnated as the ‘Lady of Justice’.”
Work by Chandrashekhar Waghmare, India
“My print addresses the exploitation of poor laborers. The donkey on one’s head symbolizes the crushing burden of excessive workload. We’re human beings, deserving of basic needs and rights. In society, we watch the circus of reality, where injustice and inequality prevail. It’s time to recognize the value of education and childhood. Let’s uphold the fundamental right to a childhood free from exploitation.”
Education by Lokesh B.H., India
“The family depicted in my print ‘Survivor’ leads life with bare minimum. Neither the parents nor the children are educated; they learn and adapt to the ways of life using their instinct to survive. Should Education have been accessible to them, their reality might have been different.”
Free Choice by Anamika Singh, India
“The concept of right to Free Choice is often touted as a fundamental human right, yet its practical application, especially for women, remains a complex and often contradictory matter. While the law may grant equal rights to all genders, societal norms and biases continue to limit women’s autonomy and freedom. In my print, the cage symbolically represents the constraints imposed on women, hindering their ability to exercise their choices freely. The intricate background, a blend of lines and forms, mirrors the complexities of our thoughts, also the external world that influences our decision-making processes. My image underscores the interplay between individual agency and societal pressures, highlighting the challenges women face in navigating their paths towards true freedom and equality.”
Democracy by Sagnik Samanta, India
“The right to Democracy is often reduced to the act of voting and electing representatives. However, the irony lies in the lack of agency voters have in choosing the candidates they are expected to support. My intent is to challenge this system, which reduces individuals to the singular identity of “voter,” transforming them into mere strategic numbers manipulated by those who seek to represent them.”
III. Human Rights Portfolio by Czech Artists
This Human Rights Portfolio of Linocut Prints by Czech artists, a project of SOS ART, is an expansion of similar portfolios by Oaxaca, Cincinnati, and India artists. It consists of 13 prints by 12 artists from Czechia, each addressing one of the same 12 human rights as in previous portfolios, the 13th print being the Title page.
Its purpose, like previous portfolios, was to challenge artists to create images and messages around human rights through a collaborative process across different cultures. The participating artists are widely exhibited and known internationally.
This expanding portfolio across countries brings an intercultural dialogue through the varying cultural, social and political perspectives of the participating artists according to their country of origin.
This portfolio was printed in an edition of 24, each print in black and white, 12×12” centered on a 15×15” 250 g cotton paper.
If interested in knowing more about the portfolio or about its availability, please contact SOS ART at sosartcincinnati@gmail.com
Portfolio Case of Human Rights Portfolio, Czechia
Colophon of Human Rights Portfolio, Czechia
Title Page by Pavel Hora, Czechia
“The text ‘Human Rights’ on the title page was conceived as a cry, the voices of people demanding their rights. The voices intertwine and, just like the heads of those calling out, they aim from afar toward the viewer. The lettering, with its free calligraphic style, reflects the character of the drawn heads.”
Health by Helena Horálková, Czechia
“Addressing the human right to Health, my intent was to depict social inequality in healthcare. It occured to me that it could be shown through the quality of teeth. My approach is not deadly serious, but it reflects reality while making a humorous point.”
Non-Violence by Bronislava Bakule Malá, Czechia
“‘Dry Garden’: Violence does not only exist in the form of a physical attack; it can also be an act of psychological attack, a coercive action against the environment. Discord with the environment leads to its destruction and the inability to coexist in natural bonds; it takes away the ability to care for one’s surroundings. This is symbolized here by the garden, which, if it produces the fruits of violence, dries up and withers, lacks its vitality and life, and loses its essence. The garden is a symbol of the environment that is closest to man, and where men exert their influence and reflect mutual relationships.”
Freedom by Pavel Piekar, Czechia
“My print on the right to Freedom represents a portrait of Dana Němcová who was one of the most important figures in the CHARTA 1977 movement. Němcová was also a spokesperson for this movement, which during the communist party rule before the Velvet Revolution of 1989, was the most visible association of people who continued to criticize human rights violations in Czechoslovakia.”
Home by Patrik Braun, Czechia
“Housing is as important to a person as, for example, footwear: on one hand it protects us from adverse conditions, and on the other it provides us with essential background, as well as comfort among other things. European metropolises are burdened by steeply rising property prices and rents. Housing thus becomes an almost unattainable peak, frustrating everyone and not only young people looking for a place to live. I titled my print ‘Tanec/Dance’; it depicts a central fire surrounded by buildings. The composition refers to the prehistoric importance of housing while at the same time reversing the roles of humans and architecture. Who is meant to serve whom?”
Environment by Peter Kollár, Czechia
“Environmental Law: My print creates a mosaic of fragments of natural structures that are strongly affected by human activity, such as a disappearing garden, an abandoned quarry and its reflection in water, urban scrubs, an overgrown field edge, etc. Individual areas divided by a strict grid point to a fragmented vision of reality. Despite fragmentation and human tendency to artificially separate and classify, individual structures communicate with each other and visually intertwine, pointing to the inextricable interconnectedness of all environments and living and non-living entities on this planet. Some parts of the mosaic structure are missing, alluding to the fact that some environments are already irretrievably lost.”
Equality by Barbora Heřmanová, Czechia
“My print on the theme of right to Equality uses the motif of children holding hands. Figures indicating different gender roles alternate in a regular rhythm, all depicted in the same color and size. Their uniform appearance symbolizes equal status regardless of gender. The black background emphasizes the contrast and underlines the simplicity of the message. Studies have shown that perception of differences arises in childhood, while equality should be a self-evident foundation of society.”
Non-Discrimination by Marek Borsányi, Czechia
“Human rights, like many other concepts, have become an instrument of indiscriminate manipulation in contemporary society. So I do not look at them through the lens of some social constructs, but through the prism of the basic limits of human life, because they are the only ones that are generally valid. Birth, death. Death does not discriminate against anyone. It takes in the rich and the poor, it is a threshold that we all cross, no matter how much some pretend it doesn’t concern them!”
Justice by Martin Manojlín, Czechia
“My print addresses the right to Justice. Above the calm water surface, a majestic bald eagle soars – a symbol of strength, power of justice and protector of the law. It lightly ripples the surface of the water with its claws and carries a balance in its beak, a symbol of justice and equity. The scales are in an absolute plane. The water surface itself, seemingly infinite, symbolizes balance, peace, harmony and therefore justice.”
Work by Ladislav Sýkora, Czechia
“My print addresses the right to Work. It contains children’s work, work from the prehistory of civilization, and various symbols of freedom.”
Education by Magdalena Vovsová, Czechia
“My print is divided into three parts. The top shows bombed houses; the middle, a subway car; and the lower part a platform where a teacher teaches children sitting on the subway steps. This is how teaching and learning are taking place nowadays in the war in Ukraine. Even in times of terror, children must have the right to Education.”
Free Choice by Zbyněk Hraba, Czechia
“When reflecting on my topic Freedom of Choice, I thought primarily of children who in many places in the world cannot freely decide on the direction and on the path they will take in their lives. The path to education, to decent housing, to choosing where to live, or what religion to practice is often closed to them. These children have in their eyes a thirst for knowledge, but also knowledge of hardships and suffering, both physical and emotional.”
Democracy by Zdena Hušková, Czechia
“The inspiration for my print is a photograph taken during the demonstrations of the so-called Velvet Revolution in 1989. The revolution was crucial for the restoration of Democracy in Czechoslovakia. I selected the most striking figure with a banner and placed it in a new environment. I originally wanted to choose the communist symbol of the hammer and sickle for the background décor but decided instead to select the cherry tree logo that the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia have used since the early 1990s. The text of the banner referring to the importance of free elections is crucial for me. The figure represents the right of citizens to participate in public life, including the right to demonstrate.”
