Betsy Karim’s ‘We are the World’ second prize winning painting in the recently concluded Guyana Visual Arts Competition came off exhibit with all others as the exhibition ended yesterday and the artist has expressed sincerest thanks to all her supporters.
The Visual Arts committee plans to launch a catalogue of the exhibition entries and exhibitors which will be available to schools and other national agencies.
According to a press release, Karim stated that she wants “to thank all those who helped her in her many years of research and preparation” for the execution of the painting.
The painting which depicts one boy and girl in their respective school uniforms, and with small printed labels with the school’s name and phone number from each of Guyana’s 345 public schools is spread on a painting 16 feet in width.
It is through extensive work, from speaking to Ministry of Education officials to calling up schools’ principals and staff to enlisting her niece’s assistance that the artist said she was able to capture all of the schools in the painting. Karim said the actual painting of the piece began in February last year and was completed in time for the competition’s judging last December.
According to the press release, Karim is known for her richly painted, stitched and appliquéd surfaces and her exhibition on the theme of animals titled ‘Hold Back the Dawn’.
The artist began painting in the late 1980s on glass and has always used themes inspired by ancient world cultures to illustrate the richness of the ethnic and cultural stands that have spread out and peopled the world’s nations.
