College organises art exhibition at Peace Park in Kosovo

The Manchester College has organised a special art exhibition to celebrate the opening of The Manchester Peace Park in the small recovering town of Podujevë, Kosovo.

This week, Jason Boothroyd, Divisional Leader for Art and Design at The Manchester College, will be travelling to Kosovo to stage an exclusive art exhibition, featuring work created by Art and Design staff from the college’s Moston Campus on Ashley Lane.

The art exhibition will take place from 25 March to 1 April at Shaban Shala Hall, Podujevë, as part of a four-day celebration event to mark the opening of the 22 acre Peace Park, which was created as a memorial to the victims of a tragic family massacre that happened there more than a decade ago.

Remembrance, peace and rejuvenation are key themes of the event, which coincides with the ten year anniversary of the end of the Kosovo conflict. The art exhibition will be just one of many activities designed to encourage the local community to participate, develop creativity and learn transferable skills.

The event has been organised by Manchester Aid to Kosovo (MAK), a charity dedicated to supporting the recovery of Kosovo through recreational activities – and is being filmed by Channel M for a documentary about remembrance.

Jason said: ‘MAK approached me to see if the college would like to be involved in this event and I jumped at the chance because I thought it would be a great opportunity to do something creative to support a local charity. I took a team of art and design tutors from the college to see the famous Fragile State exhibition at Stockport Art Gallery and this inspired us to create our own imaginative and emotive collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings – each piece unique in the way it captures the conflicts in Kosovo.

‘I’m really looking forward to the exhibition, it will be a great opportunity to explore the culture and showcase the college’s artwork.’

The park was the brainchild of the surviving members of the Bogujevci family; five cousins and their two fathers, who were discovered by the British army when NATO liberated Podujevë ten years ago. The severely injured children were evacuated to Manchester in 1999 by the British Government and quickly became known to the charity MAK.

Once in Manchester, the Bogujevci children felt their recovery was helped by the beauty and peace of the city’s parks and gardens. With support from MAK, the returning refugees were inspired to build their own peace park in their home town, where they had lost eight members of their family, including siblings, mothers, their grandmother and friends. The children chose to name the park ‘The Manchester Peace Park’ and wanted the site to be a symbol of the love and hope they received in Manchester.