Azkuna Zentroa exhibe murales de ‘Kids’ Guernica’ pintados por alumnos de Ucrania y Japón

Azkuna Zentroa-Alhóndiga Bilbao is hosting two large-scale murals inspired by Picasso’s ‘Guernica’, created by students from Ukraine and Japan and curated by Minoru Watanabe, as part of the ‘Kids’ Guernica’ project.

The exhibition will be on display until April 27th at the Atrio de las Culturas of Azkuna Zentroa, organized by the City Council of Bilbao and the Juntas Generales de Bizkaia, coinciding with the commemoration this Saturday of the anniversary of the bombing of Gernika.

The presentation was attended by the Councilor for Equality and Festivals and Deputy to Culture of the City Council of Bilbao, Itziar Urtasun, the promoter of the initiative, Minoru Watanabe, and the former lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu, among others.

‘Kids’ Guernica’ is a cultural art project that promotes a culture of peace among children worldwide, where, with the «inspiration» of Pablo Picasso’s ‘Guernica’, conceived as a testimony of the horror of wars, children create collective works conveying a message of peace and global solidarity, as explained by Azkuna Zentroa.

In the case of Bilbao, two of these works are showcased, connecting two communities that know well the suffering of war, such as Japan and Ukraine.

‘All children’s dreams in one word Peace’ was painted in 2024 by students from the Faculty of Economics in Irpin, Ukraine, expressing «both their pain from the destruction and massacres they are experiencing, as well as their desire for peace to arrive as soon as possible.»

On the other hand, ‘Kayoko Sakura III Project’ was created by students from Himi High School in 2023 in Nagasaki. In this case, they have carried out a project where «every year they distribute cherry blossom saplings of Kayoko Hayashi, a student victim of the atomic bomb, around the world.»

Through flower petals, handprints, and flags, the organization of the exhibition has stated, «they convey how Gernika and Nagasaki have managed to create peaceful and happy cities from their ruins with wisdom and bravery.»

During the presentation, Itziar Urtasun recalled that peace is an «indisputable human right» that can only be achieved «through dialogue, mutual understanding, and cooperation,» something that, in her opinion, has been masterfully conveyed in these murals by the girls and boys who created them.

On his part, Minoru Watanabe pointed out that, «since the genocide of Gernika, humanity has made many mistakes without learning from history, such as those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,» and lamented that «mass killings continue worldwide.»

Therefore, he made a call for international cooperation to create «a future free of wars, in peace and happiness, where people love and help each other.» «This is the message of our Kids’ Guernica project,» he emphasized.

The presentation concluded with a musical performance by the Basque musician Gontzal Rodríguez Agudo, who played several pieces on a violin that survived the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, brought to Bilbao by Minoru Watanabe for this occasion.

UN MILLAR DE MURALES

Kids’ Guernica is an NGO established in 1995 by the Japanese Toshifumi Abe, Tadashi Yasuda, and Kaoru Mizuguchi, and the American Tom Anderson on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the bomb on Hiroshima. With the aim of promoting a culture of peace among children, the project travels the world visiting countries that have suffered the impact of violence.

So far, young people from 50 countries have created around a thousand murals. Every year, exhibitions are organized in different countries to showcase these murals and «promote a message of peace and global solidarity.»

FUENTE

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