The Moroccan Children’s Trust team are thrilled about the recent success of our ‘Home Street Home’ Art Exhibition at Brixton East Gallery. The exhibition brought together artwork from the UK and Morocco, as well as from the children of Centre Afaq, to reflect on the artists’ different perspectives of ‘Home’, and the juxtaposition of the ideal with the reality.
The inspiration for this exhibition came from the children of Centre Afaq and our recently launched Art Project in Taroudannt. Every Friday, fifteen children aged six to eighteen attend two art lessons at Centre Afaq led by local artist, Soufiane Ait Ben Hmad. The reach of our Art Project extends beyond our belief in non-formal education; it helps children to develop their talents, explore new interests and acquire transferrable skills that could lead to a future career.
After a busy week of preparations in the beautiful setting of Brixton East, the exhibition opened with a bang on the 29th August with a spectacular evening of food, drink and art appreciation. This special evening included a glass of Prosecco for our guests, kindly donated by Instituto G.B. Cerletti di Conegliano, as well as some traditional Moroccan food from the wonderful Nadia, a Moroccan woman who has set up her own catering business in London.
The exhibition featured photography from Ian McEwan, installations from both Ocean Mims and Richard Cramp (a participant on our Toubkal Trek in April 2013), a mosaic from Aisling Marray, two short films from Bleeding Heart Films and paintings from Soufiane Ait Ben Hmad. The Moroccan Children’s Trust would like to extend a warm thanks to each artist for their valuable contribution.
The art exhibition could not have taken place without the children of Centre Afaq, whose 64 pieces of artwork took pride of place in the loft. The vibrant colours and sweeping shapes of their paintings really looked at home in the gallery.
Throughout the weekend of the art exhibition the team were delighted to welcome old friends through the doors of our ‘Home Street Home’, as well as meeting new friends who we hope will continue to support MCT.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of this event, and for helping is to raise over £300 for the Art Project! These funds will be used to purchase supplies for the Art Project and for the development of the programme.
We hope to see you again next year!
Special thanks to Richmond for these gorgeous photographs that captured the beauty of the event.