Child's rights in art

We are trying to project that everyone, that all children, should experience all these because these are all basic rights. Education is not a privilege, it’s a right. Play is a right.

“It takes a village to raise a child,” so goes one of the speeches of Hilary Clinton.

With this no-nonsense viewpoint, Canada-based Cebuano artist Paulina Constancia created a collection that celebrates children and their rights.

 “I want to call the attention of the people towards the needs of our local children,” she said, admitting that the timing of the launch of her exhibit to coincide with the Sinulog Festival, a time when the world celebrates with Cebu the devotion to the Child Jesus, is for it to amplify the significance of the issue, thus, the title of the exhibit “Niños, alang sa mga bata.”

“We are trying to project that everyone, that all children, should experience all these because these are all basic rights. Education is not a privilege, it’s a right. Play is a right,” she said.

The collection developed from the piece Help Raise the Child, depicting a mother literally raising her child with everyone, including the sun and animals, holding on to the baby.

“When you experience a child holding your hand, and (the trust that he gives you), it’s as though you know where to lead him/her and we know where we’re going ourselves,” she said, emphasizing on the trust that the child gives to an adult.

“So our duty as adults is to lead the child (to the correct path) and bring out the light in that child,” she added.

“I’ve been working with kids for a long time,” she said as she revealed her experience as visiting artist of the Telus World of Science – Creative Kids Museum in Calgary, Canada.

“I teach children how to unleash their natural creativity, not just to draw,” she said. “I bring out their individuality.”

And indeed individuality is what her work is all about. Defying to categorize her style, Paulina simply describes it as naïf, French for primitive and simply means to do as you wish, free from any set of rules, but just expressing one’s self in a way that suits her mood at the time.

Common to Paulina’s work is the way she brings dimension to her pieces by highlighting the outlines of her main subject either with the use of paints or thread, carefully sewn into the work.

“The thread is very important (because) it gives dimension to the piece…. It makes the piece that I want to highlight to pop out,” she said.

“Haven’t you noticed that when you look at it, you will always go back to the subject,” she pointed out.

Indeed this is a fact as we delve into another characteristic of her work which the artist fondly described as Baroque, “never leaving enough alone.” No space, no corner, is left alone as details and patterns are spread all over the piece. But somehow there is fluidity in the clutter, a sense of harmony, making her pieces more interesting and fun.

The use of bright colors give her works a more playful and joyful mood. The most prominent colors are bright red, blue and yellow, somehow, giving it a Hispanic feel (together with the patterns), to which she admitted that this may have been influenced from her stay in Mexico where she further developed her skills in the use of ceramics.

If one would be observant enough, he would notice the subtle statements that the artist tries to convey to her viewing public, aside from the more obvious campaign that her collection is dedicated to.

Take the piece Learning Bits, for example. If you look at the books being read by the little girl in the picture, you would notice that instead of fairy tale stories, the child is reading about global warming, living green, and Earth. Even the dog is reading about humanity, which brings us to another characteristic of the artist’s work.

Surrealism abounds. Animals are humanized and inanimate objects given life. There is a dreamlike quality to her works and she revealed that this is also part of being naïf.

Perhaps the most important quality of Paulina’s work is the way she integrates community involvement and social responsibility into her collection. “In the last three years, the movement of my work is towards community involvement. It is not just about putting up an art show. The purpose is for people to understand the totality of the work, that it is not just about painting but rather how the painting translates to real life, in our community,” she said.

“What I would like to show are the things that people are doing. It’s good to highlight the kindness and goodness going around in the community,” she said.

Niños, alang sa mga bata will benefit Batang Mekong, a charitable institution that provides education, better nutrition and health support for children of dump site scavengers. Her works will be on exhibit until January 31. For viewing you may contact Batang Mekong at (032)254-3183 or visit her website at www.paulinaconstancia.com. Paulina also conducts free art workshops for children.