Good News
Katie honoured in Yolande Frank Art Awards
- May 15, 2022
- Posted by: Shiarne Coole
- Category: Uncategorized
Katie Russell’s primary goal is to make the world a better place, and she is already making a big difference. At just 15, Katie is a student councillor at Southern River College, a mentor for local youth, a campaigner for social justice through her school-based Activists’ Club and a supporter of many worthwhile community causes. She has now been acknowledged in the Yolande Frank Art Awards for an artwork promoting human rights and calling for a more equitable world.
The Yolande Frank Art Awards are held annually in memory of Yolande Frank, a Holocaust survivor with a passion for human rights. Coordinated by the United Nations WA Branch, the award invites school aged students to submit artworks which communicate aspects of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Katie was named runner-up in the Year 9/10 category of the awards for her painting entitled “A Symphony of Variety”. Her artist statement reads:
“Respect. Freedom to express your identity. Safety and security. These are all human rights that I believe everyone, no matter what race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or age should have. The right to be treated with respect, the right to freely express your identity and the right to feel safe and secure. We are all different, not one of us an exact replica of another person, which I find is extraordinary and wonderful. That is what I hoped to capture in my artwork. The two girls in the painting are different. One has circular shapes and one more squared patterns, but they also have similarities with the colours. We are all so different, but we are human, so alike, yet so different. “
Congratulations Katie!