MEMORY PROJECT
In 2016, Eliana Dacunha, FHS Alumni, inspired our National Art Honor Society to participate in the Memory Project, a charitable non-profit organization that invites art teachers and their students to create and donate portraits to youth around the world who have faced substantial challenges, such as neglect, abuse, loss of parents, violence, and extreme poverty. The organization wants the portraits to help the children feel valued and important, to know that many people care about their well being, and to act as meaningful pieces of personal history in the future. For the art students, we want this to be an opportunity to creatively practice kindness and global awareness. To do this, we receive photos of children and teens from global charities operating residential homes, schools, and care centers from a number of different countries every year. The organization then provides us with full-page color prints of those photos, along with plastic sleeves to protect the finished portraits. Our artists then create the portraits, and the organization hand-delivers them to the kids. Finally, the organization makes a video of each delivery to share with all of the artists and teachers involved. It cost $15 per participant to participate. This is a non-profit. |
Syria
Overview
The Syrian conflict has been called the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Due to years of brutal civil war, millions of families have been displaced and many Syrian children are growing up in refugee camps with no experience of life outside a barbed-wire fence. Each portrait your students create for these children will carry a message of kindness and hope from a different world. Each portrait will help them see the beauty of their inner strength and show them they are not forgotten by you, your students, or the rest of the world.
Republic of Congo, Africa
Puerto Rico