Caring for the Forgotten Children
Artist makes donation to SFR
15 June 2010
Moira Stevenson recently graduated from UUJ with a degree in Arts. She launched some of her work recently and decided to make a donation to SFR. The focus of Moira's work is on the significance of human touch in the development of young children. Moira explains why she drew parallels between her work and SFR.
"I was reading a magazine at the hairdresser's, and came across an article featuring the work of SFR, and I was struck by the modest yet fantastic success it has already achieved. Wonderfully inspiring. I am impressed by the practical approach taken and the obvious commitment of volunteers and committee alike. It is definitely a very hard task you have set yourselves, and not for the faint-hearted. But I’m sure if you get to meet the children, there would be no problems with motivation.
Like anyone, I would watch the television news pictures of terrible stories of famine victims, poverty, no end of heart-rending events. But of all of these, the story that truly broke my heart and stayed with me long after it was first brought to public attention, was the one of the children abandoned under the Ceausescu regime in Romania back in 1990. As a new mother (my son was born in 1989) I couldn't bear to watch these children left so unloved, rocking in their ghastly cots, separated even from each other. These images have haunted me and so I earnestly want to help SFR if I can. "
Like anyone, I would watch the television news pictures of terrible stories of famine victims, poverty, no end of heart-rending events. But of all of these, the story that truly broke my heart and stayed with me long after it was first brought to public attention, was the one of the children abandoned under the Ceausescu regime in Romania back in 1990. As a new mother (my son was born in 1989) I couldn't bear to watch these children left so unloved, rocking in their ghastly cots, separated even from each other. These images have haunted me and so I earnestly want to help SFR if I can. "
Moira also created a document describing her work as part of the degree and I was very struck by the following statement which very much captures my thoughts on my first visit to the 0-3 orphanage in Brasov. Moira writes "I draw mostly with charcoal and graphite on to watercolour paper ...... by emphasizing tone over colour, my work seeks effectiveness through simplicity, focusing attention on its atmospheric and haptic qualities.
Integral to this body of work is the visual interpretation of the experience of extreme emotions and sensations that stem from the presence and absence of touch, of intimacy and loss, of attachment and detachment".
Integral to this body of work is the visual interpretation of the experience of extreme emotions and sensations that stem from the presence and absence of touch, of intimacy and loss, of attachment and detachment".
For more pictures of the launch click here.