MELBOURNE: The International Women’s Peace Group Global Region 2 (IWPG, Regional Director Seo-yeon Lee) held an event last month with the Melbourne branch of IWPG under the theme of ‘Sending a heart of peace to friends suffering from war’, co-hosted by Amaru Neighborhood Center and Shirileka Arts Foundation.
The ‘International Loving Peace Art Competition’, now in its sixth year, spreads the need for a cessation to global war and the value of a culture of peace among children and youth, who will become future leaders, and helps them learn how to achieve peace in a peaceful natural order and create a world of peace in the future. It is held every year in major cities in Korea and abroad to convey the message of peace through the drawings of children and youth.
Amaru Neighborhood Center Coordinator Janine Saligari said, “I am happy that so many children attended this competition. This exhibition of works held after the loving peace art competition was the most meaningful exhibition in three years.”
A parent who attended the competition said, “I am grateful for IWPG’s efforts to promote peace in the community through the drawing competition, and I think it would be good if the art competition were held throughout Victoria.”
Ansh Gupta, who participated in the contest, said, “It showed how important friendship is to achieve peace,” and “the painting expressed that although countries, status, and races are different, the world is one.”
The first place winners were Tia Mehta, Year 1 student at Saltwater P9 College Primary; Trisha Mehta, Year 7 student at Saltwater P9 College Primary School, and Harleen Kaur from Mount Waverley Secondary School.
The first prize for each country will be mailed to Korea, where the IWPG headquarters is located, for final review. The final award ceremony will be held in November, and the winning works selected in the final will also be produced in a catalog (collection of award-winning works).
IWPG is a special consultative status NGO of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and a women’s peace organisation registered with the Department of Global Communications (DGC). IWPG’s vision is to protect precious lives from war and pass on peace as a legacy to future generations with a motherly heart. To this end, it is headquartered in Seoul, Korea, and actively works in solidarity with about 110 branches and 660 partner organisations around the world.
