Every picture tells a secret story. And a new collection of art by young people from across the globe - some from war-torn countries such as Syria and Iraq - shows a maturity, complexity and raw talent that holds a unique mirror to the 21st century child.
Almost every child scribbles, paints and draws a piece of art but often their creations are not taken seriously. They end up displayed for a limited audience in some corner of their schools or held by magnets on a fridge at home.
But if one is to look at these works seriously, one discovers a rare insight into what children believe and how they interpret current events in their lives.
"Children's art is as important if not more important than adult art as they are the present and the future," says Dr Mohamed Abouelnaga, a renowned Egyptian artist and the curator of the 3rd Sharjah International Biennial for Children's Arts.
Spanning more than 61 countries, the biennial at the Sharjah Art Museum is an impressive collection of international dialogue through expressions in various forms, from 2D to 3D to collages, videos, photos and computer graphics, as well as sculpturing and printmaking.
"They are getting the same treatment professional adult art would get," says Dr Abouelnaga. "And they deserve it."
Art arriving from war-ravaged areas such as Iraq and Syria, and from within refugee camps, is more mature in subject than the rest. It seems the children are "robbed" of their childhood.
For instance, a teenager in Iraq drew and cut a red skull-like face screaming with another black head inside the mouth, a piece Dr Abouelnaga compared with Edvard Munch's famous The Scream.
A teenager in Syria captured three Syrian boys in three photos mimicking the "see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil" hand gestures. A Palestinian child in a refugee camp in Lebanon drew the sacred Dome of the Rock mosque in bright kaleidoscopic colours, while several others from the same camp drew birds with a tiny, human-like figure clinging to the featured creature or watching it fly away without them.
Every piece tells the story of the child and the country.
Selected from more than 5,000 entries, the exhibition under the patronage of Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, the wife of the Ruler of Sharjah and the chairwoman of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, has 3,197 pieces - 676 from the Arab world, 1,050 from other countries, 127 by special-needs children and 889 by group projects.
Open to the public for free until January 25, there are top winning pieces in different age groups but, the organisers maintain, all the pieces on display are special and winners in their own right.
"You can do a whole study on these pieces," says Dr Abouelnaga. "You can find out through art the psychological, the social and the political state of the young and how the environment in which they are is influencing and changing them."
Called Restart, the international art project called on children and youth from the UAE and around the world to reboot and start from zero, to express themselves without any strings or limits.
As a result, the pieces mirror the child of the 21st century, a generation of children living between different civilisations and cultures. Questions of identity, religious values and what a home looks like are explored in almost every piece at the exhibition.
"There are trends. Arts pieces from Italy, Czech, Netherlands, for instance, are very bright and full of rainbows and colours compared to art pieces from Syria, Iraq and Senegal, where they are less colourful," says Dr Abouelnaga. The pieces by the special-needs children stand out, reflecting a sense of innocence and a completely different view of the world. Often animals and a home are dominant themes in their pieces.
A winning piece by a 17-year-old special-needs Kuwaiti is a beautiful mosaic of coloured sewed pieces of cloth and stitches, with messages throughout, like a black cut-out hand reaching out near a house made of floral print.
Meanwhile, works from the United States have patriotic themes, with the American flag or its colours a common feature, as well as the dove of peace. Pieces from Eastern Europe have a distinct "mystical" feel to many of their creations, with elf-like creatures, princesses and witches, and many fairytale-like creatures making an appearance with a modern twist.
The smart phone, robots, aliens and outer space also showed up in various pieces from across the world, including the UAE, with several depictions of the Burj Khalifa as a monument that can be seen from space. From the Gulf countries, themes related to national identity and heritage, such as forts, camels, and traditional dress, were drawn in many pieces.
At the same time, a group project at one of the children's centres in Sharjah put together by expatriates and Emiratis is a mural spanning three walls and depicting violence and war, with drops of blood and even ambulances carrying away the wounded. There are also men in army uniforms drawn pointing guns at children.
"They see violence on TV or lived it if they have escaped a conflict area. People undermine the intelligence and the observations of a child," says Dr Abouelnaga.
Contributions from Arab Spring countries have been limited this year due to a shift in priorities and a lack of means of sending pieces of art. However, the most common object across all the countries, the mischievous cat, shows up in the strangest colours and positions, whether drawn with a bright red tail by an Egyptian child, or mystical-like by a child from Poland, or as a cartoon by a child in South Korea. In several pieces from Japan and Iran, the cat was given a special spot at the family table.
Besides venues in Sharjah, there are several initiatives related to children's art across the UAE, such as Abu Dhabi's Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation and the Dubai International Art Centre. Most social clubs provide courses and space for children's art.
The art of expression is so important that specialists argue it may well be the best way to understand and help a child. "Drawing is a natural language for children," says Dr Anita Sunil, a clinical psychologist and therapist at the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.
"When we have children with trauma, the complexity of what they are going through is easily expressed through art."
Besides understanding what a child might be thinking, it is an insight into a child's development and cognitive level.
"Verbally interviewing a child is often unsuccessful, so we use artwork. Just giving them a piece of paper and pencil is enough to encourage them to express themselves," Dr Sunil says.
"When they draw, they are opening their boundaries to you. So parents should pay close attention to what their children are drawing. It is a message."
However, as many studies have shown, it is not just children that are helped by art. "Art promotes healing. For instance, many human trafficking victims here have been saved and helped through art. Some open up and feel better after engaging in something as simple as connecting dots."
With more than two decades of work dedicated to children, Dr Sunil noticed that even the simple act of "exhibiting" a child's piece of work can have a lasting effect on his or her development.
"It builds their self esteem. It gives them confidence and a feeling that they matter," she says. "While it is a cliche, there is great truth to the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words."
rghazal@thenational.ae
For more information on timings and workshops held during the children's biennial, please contact 06 556 6002 or visit www.sharjahmuseums.ae
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Where to buy
Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com
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The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
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Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
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'Midnights'
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What is 'Soft Power'?
Soft power was first mentioned in 1990 by former US Defence Secretary Joseph Nye.
He believed that there were alternative ways of cultivating support from other countries, instead of achieving goals using military strength.
Soft power is, at its root, the ability to convince other states to do what you want without force.
This is traditionally achieved by proving that you share morals and values.
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Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
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