A consortium of international and Filipino artists will open the “Haiyan International Fundraising Art Exhibition 2014” on April 6 at the Galleria Duemila.
The exhibit features artworks of over 40 international and 17 Filipino artists, and showcases the support of the global art community for the victims of “Haiyan” (local name: “Yolanda”).
The fundraiser was conceptualized by Singapore national artist Goh Beng Kwan and loca artist Florence Cinco when they and other artists from Asean convened to celebrate the 86th birthday of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Thailand.
The group participating in the exhibition includes Ilseon Ryu (Korea), president and art director of Ecorea Biennale Committee and president of the Asia-Pacific Institute of Art & Research; Grete Marstein (Norway), president of the Norwegian Artists Copyright Association and international vice president of the International Association of Art (Unesco); Trinh Tuan (Vietnam); Daniel Houle Jayd (Canada), and Wattanachot Tungateja (Thailand).
The exhibition is organized and curated by Cinco, Red Mansueto and Aimee Villas Adalla.
Each artist has contributed an artwork to support the ongoing relief and reconstruction efforts in the Visayas region.
All proceeds from the art works sold during the exhibition will go to My Shelter Foundation, whose Liter of Light program provides low-cost, simple solar lighting to disaster-stricken areas, creating local jobs, teaching green skills, and empowering local communities.
Since the supertyphoon struck, thousands of people in the Visayas have lived without electricity. As a result, women feel unsafe, children cannot study at night, and households remain dependent on expensive or unreliable forms of lighting (i.e., kerosene, candles) to survive.
My Shelter Foundation was the first organization to respond to the immediate need for lighting in Palo, Leyte, providing the cheapest form of lighting through its Liter of (Night) Lights and street lamps, which were assembled and installed in the community within 40 days of the disaster.
Liter of Light’s efforts to aid typhoon victims focus on assembling and installing night lights and street lamps for 228 bunkhouses in Leyte and Samar, the areas most affected by the super typhoon.
At a cost of just $9 per beneficiary, My Shelter Foundation’s Liter of Light will bring light and hope to over 27,000 people displaced and affected by the storm.
The exhibit runs April 6-26 at Galleria Duemila. For more information, please call tel. 8319990 or telefax 8339815 and look for Thess Ponce or Mark Arvin Patiag.
You can also e-mail gduemila@gmail.com or log on to www.galleriaduemila.com for more details.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/HaiyanInternationalArtFundraisingExhibition2014?ref=hl.
For information on the Liter of Light and MyShelter Foundation, log on to www.aliteroflight.org or e-mail info@aliteroflight.org.
You may also e-mail Ami Valdemoro (for Liter of Light), ami@1LiterOfLight.org.