NOMA Event

Laughter Remembered by Louise Almon from the Women
for Children portfolio will be one of 11 works exhibited at
the event. 

A friendly reminder that the "Becoming Artfully AWARE: Linking Local and International Communities through  the Arts," a special event at New Orleans Museum of Art which shall will be taking place in a weeks time, 3 February 2012.

The event will showcase the a series of works from various AFH portfolio's aswel as photographs take at the Art and Social Justice workshops of 2011.

For more information on the Event, please click HERE

Peace and Tolerance for Elena Malec

Fine Artist and writer for peace and tolerance, Elena Malec has dedicated her life to writing poetry, being an artist, a doll maker and a web designer. Romanian born Elena who has an MA in Modern languages previously worked in the education and research fields, but art was always her true passion.


With an array of publications to her name, "Elena believes art is a realm of beauty and harmony  and art’s mission is to inspire meditation, bliss, positive energy, peace." Below are the works African Drum and Love and protection, which Elena uses to voice her message for peace in Africa.


African Drum

Love and Protect


Olumide by Elena Malec

Her name was Aisha, her eyes were embers, her skin was ebony. Graceful as a gazelle, young Aisha was running slowly across the savanna.
Flowering acacia trees under a magenta sky scattered dreams of her prince.
 His skin was sea foam, his eyes were heavens,  his name was Ian.

In the immense African night thirsty gazelles kiss the refreshing waters of the lake.

“Oh, come to my side my beloved husband, the apple of my eye; come to me my fair prince. The moon is guiding you in finding the way into my arms.
Pure and luminous is my love for you like the baobab flowers and only the age of baobabs match my fidelity to you.
I am dark as the night but shining with beauty like the sun.
Come under the baobab tree. Its bark will give us clothes, its leaves will give us medicine, the fruit will give us food and quench our thirst and the trunk will give us shelter.”
The young husband hears the love call and dashes to embrace her.
 “Beloved gazelle, jewel of my life, your longing is sister to my longing for you. Between us oceans of love, between us mountains of desire, between us savannas of hope fill the moments of separation. Your kisses are as sweet as the heart of the prickly pear, your embrace is warm and dear to me.”
Kisses as sweet as the heart of the prickly pear and warm embraces followed.

Aisha was now with child.

One night they called the animals that gathered by the freshwater lake.
“Tell us the teachings of this world for our future son, you beasts of the earth.”

And for nine months animals kept telling stories.


“I am the giraffe known for spiritual vision.  Many thousands years ago, in Africa, my ancestors have been depicted on rocks by the Kiffian people. My saying is that from earliest times till today man has believed that all that exists in this world has a soul. Humans and animals and plants have life, but the mountains and rivers, and rocks and the stars have a soul too and there is nothing I can tell of who does not have a spirit. Go to all corners of the earth and you will find people who believe in animism.”
 And for a month the giraffe came to the lake and told Aisha and Ian stories of animistic beliefs in many mythologies.

“I might be older than you and my wisdom is legendary,” said the elephant. “I am also revered as a god, Lord Ganesha, by the Hindus. Among my teachings are those of Dharma, Samsara, Karma and Moksha, and various Yogas.
The wisdom of the Hindus goes back to the sacred Vedas which are older than other scriptures.” So every night for one full month the majestic elephant told old beliefs, and teachings from Rig Veda, Bhaagawada Gita and the beautiful mythological stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata.


Slowly moving along from the deserts of Sahara came to the animal gathering the African spurred tortoise.
“I come from the oldest times of this world when in distant China my ancestor, the sacred tortoise, was the symbol of longevity.  The first characters were inscribed on our shells.We witnessed the birth of Tao. I can tell you about the three jewels of Tao: compassion, moderation and humility and the reverance of nature, health and longevity and the principle of wu wei that is action through inaction.Tao is the true teaching and respect for ancestor spirits and immortals,” added the tortoise.And night after night it told from the teachings,symbols and rituals of taoism.

Walking quickly to meet the animals gathering one night appeared a village dog.” I am an African village dog” it said .”My ancestors are the earliest domesticated dogs on earth.Our qualities and virtues were revered by one of the oldest religions, Zoroastrianism.The Chinwad Bridge to Heaven is said to be guarded by dogs in Zoroastrian scripture.Respect for the dog  is common  among Iranian Zoroastrian villagers. So I bring to you the word of the Avesta, the Zoroastrian scripture.Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal god, Ahura Mazda.He is the only creator of the world which is based on two principles,  good and evil.In this conflict humans take action through good deeds, good behavior, good thoughts.”
And this is how the dog told stories from the life of Zoroaster and the sacred scriptures of Iranian people.


In the fifth month of her pregnacy Aisha saw a collared dove flying above her head and landing on her shoulder. The animals were silent and the guest introduced itself.”I am from a distant time when after the flood Noah sent a dove to see if there was land somewhere and it came back with an olive branch.
Judaism tells of wonderful qualities of doves associated with the Jewish people”
“What is Judaism?” asked Ian.
“Judaism it's about the relationship between the Jewish people and God.Jewish people believe they were chosen to live exemplary lives, to model the kind of behavior that God wants of humans. By following the ten commandments you become a good Jew.”
And the  dove cooed  for 30 nights stories about the Jewish people and their religion.


“I come to you with the teaching of Lord Buddha” said the rhinoceros. In the  "The Rhinoceros Sutra" the Buddha says one should wander lonely as a rhino.
“ Renouncing violence for all living beings,
harming not even a one;
You would not wish for offspring,
so how a companion?
Wander alone like a rhinoceros.”

And Buddha-nature is like the pure rhinoceros, mind you.  Buddhist faith in Amitabha through the recitation of his name teaches that, as a consequence of this practice, after death one will achieve rebirth in paradise.”

And the Rhino continued the stories from the teachings of Buddha for one month while every soul was listening with interest.


 One night the waters of the lake trembled and a fish bubbled up.
”I am the African carp. I have relatives on most continents. My teaching is very old, and my God is Lord Jesus Christ. He who died on the cross took upon Himself the sins of mankind. He lived in virtue and taught virtue. Faith, hope and charity (love) is the Christ moral teaching. Just whisper with me the words of Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”



Now came the camel that spoke of a sacrifice and a sign from Allah. ”I preach Islam. The Qumran teaches that Allah is the only creator of all life and Muhammad is his prophet. Islam means submission to one god.”


 In the ninth month confessed the monkey. ”I do not have a god .I am an atheist.”

Aisha and Ian listened respectfully and thanked all animals.

“All teachings are equally good”, they said in one breath.

And Aisha gave Ian their first born named Olumide, meaning God has come.

All information was gathered from Elena Malec's website. Click HERE for more. 


"Blombos" features on TRACSYMBOLS website

The aim of TRACSYMBOLS is to examine how key behavioural innovations emerged among Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis in southern Africa and Europe respectively, and explore whether and how environmental variability influenced this development between 180 – 25 ka [Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 6 – 3].


To achieve this goal the PI and co-PI have built up a new research team that for the first time... are combining archaeological results, original multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental data, and state-of-the-art climatic simulations for two continents to which a dedicated biocomputational algorithm is being applied. This approach is creating new benchmarks for better understanding the behavioural evolution of these hominins within precise environmental and ecological frameworks.


To view the works of Anthony Dunn and Bruce Willus on the TRACSYMBOLS website, Click HERE

Exhibition at NOMA - 3 February 2012

 by Thireshni Sanasy 

Yes No by Guto Nobrega
Boy by Este' Macleod
Art For Humanity see's a busy start to the new year.  As February approaches, AFH will be participating in an exhibition Hosted by Artfully Aware, entitled "Becoming Artfully AWARE: Linking Communities and International Visitors through the Arts."

The exhibition which takes place at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) will see Art for Humanity exhibiting 11 works from 3 portfolio's, including Women for Children, Dialogue Among Civilizations and Break the Silence. Also included in the exhibition will be an array of photo's taken at the Art and Social Justice workshops that were hosted by AFH last year at various schools within the Durban area.  

Banner installed by AFH at Mowat
Park High 
The exhibition which is hosted by Artfully Aware in partnership with NOMA, The New Orleans Citizen Diplomacy Council and World Trade Center, aims to provide an opportunity for adults and children to share their stories with new and diverse audiences. Opening night  will be held at NOMA on the 3 February 2012 from 5:00pm to 10:00pm and shall include a host of diverse programmes, including live entertainment by Michael Watson and short films dedicated to showcasing the role of arts in international society, not forgetting the works from the AFH portfolios. 


To see more on the event, click HERE
Mother's Grief by Kim Berman



The End of the Iraq War

The Iraq War is officially at an end – the troops have come home.  Is there any intention on the part of government and its people to seriously assess the significance of this prolonged conflict and to ascertain whether the enormous cost inflicted both on ourselves and our alleged enemies was worth it?   I think not; similar to the aftermath of the Vietnam War, it will quickly be forgotten by those who did not directly participate in it.  Political pundits and those running for office will, of course, distort the reality of this war in whatever way necessary to achieve personal satisfaction and gain.

In fact, nothing of lasting importance has been achieved in spite of the one trillion dollar drain on the national treasury; the more than four thousand American lives lost and the tens of thousands grievously injured Americans and the death of what well may be one million Iraqis.  Quite to the contrary, sectarian rivalries have been greatly exacerbated and the physical infrastructure of the country has still not been restored to the state they were in prior to the First Gulf War – electricity and reliably clean drinking water are still not readily available to the Iraqi population, for example.

The Iraq War represents, in my mind, a reprehensible and failed attempt to establish economic hegemony in the region.  It is true that the energy and weapons industries may have profited immensely from the conflict, but these are ephemeral gains.  The depraved indifference to human life that this unprovoked and brutal war on the people of Iraq represents has not only diminished the financial and human resources of the United States, but also, has wrecked havoc on the moral character of the nation.   It is another senseless war along with the wretched litany of past conflicts perpetrated against essentially defenseless peoples around the globe.

Is there no end to what the American people will tolerate in regards to the militaristic behavior of our nation towards other governments and their citizens?  There is now about one and one-half million men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.    They have been badly used and exploited by those in power who remain remote from any possibility of harm.   What kind of treatment should they expect to find on their return home?  The evidence is clear in regards to the answer to this question – they can expect little help or understanding.  They are, in fact, expected to suffer in silence.

If we, as a people, do not look honestly and with unflinching clarity at our own behavior, we are doomed to repeat it.