acrylic on paper; 14×11”
“My piece is about Article 5 of Human Rights, Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment. In my mind, this includes children’s labor rights, especially concerning the diamond mines, the physical consequences and the emotional cost of such painstaking work and lack of proper help and resources. This kind of abuse and exploitation against helpless children isn’t something that only happens overseas. My painting depicts two characters, one a broken gray “shadow” figure and a blindfolded child with a shovel inside a cave with gems scattered around. The figure is holding a vine with the flower spring crocus which is also known as the penitent rose. It’s connecting to a collar on the crying child with the gladiolus flower crushed underneath their feet, all to represent the emotional toll this kind of treatment has on a child.The exploitation of children has decreased only in recent times and only in extreme cases as international laws have been put into place to stop the worst-case scenarios. The less extreme cases are often overlooked. We need to protect those who are experiencing abuse and other types of exploitation and help those who have experienced this in the past, to heal from their scars, visible or not.”
ARTIST BIO: Dinara Boynazarova is a Grade 12 student at Butler Tech School of Art (SOA).
PROJECT: After learning about human rights in Mrs. Valerie Folz’ Government classes at Butler Tech School of the Arts, 45 high school students chose a human rights issue they wanted to research. Then in Mrs. Mary Catherine Ruby’s Visual Art + Design classes they visually communicated their voice through their art using symbolic imagery to represent the human rights issue they had selected.