Unique Kazakh Art Project presented at UN headquarters in New York
The World Painting will remain on display till 16 September, and give a message of global harmony and solidarity, which converges with the very raison d'etre of the United Nations, the official website of the Kazakh Permanent Mision to the UN reads.
His Excellency, Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, was the Guest of Honour, and painted a graphic image of nature, to add to the thousands on the canvas, to depict sustainable development and our harmony with Mother Earth. As a champion of peace and multilateralism, and the highest-ranking statesman in the UN, he aptly represented the United Nations on the canvas. His strokes on this painting will be historic for now the painting closes, and will be on its way to other capitals.
His Excellency Abdulla Shahid noted that this outstanding piece of artwork brings people of our planet together for peace, friendship and harmony. «It is a great honor for me to join the thousands of people from more than 190 countries who took part in creating this unique painting,» said the President of the 76th session of the UNGA.
Magzhan Ilyasov, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN, called the opening of the «World Painting» at the UN headquarters on the eve of the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions symbolic. He emphasized that the message of this project -- peace, mutual understanding and social harmony -- is consonant with the idea of the Congress, which is opening these days in the capital of Kazakhstan.
The colourful canvass carries painted symbols and imaginations of celebrities, global actors, esteemed sportsmen, government officials and even simple common people, old and young, including youth and children, from all walks of life. They come from all social classes, races, religions, cultures, belief systems and geography to form a kaleidoscope of the Human Family.
As H.E. Magzhan Ilyassov remarked at the exhibitions' opening ceremony that «this painting is most relevant at a time when the world is confronted with chaos, turmoil, hostilities, xenophobia and intolerance». He further added that «while diplomats from 193 Member States deliberate seriously in the halls, chambers and meeting rooms of United Nations on multilateralism, conflict prevention and resolution, and the need for world peace, this project has taught us that art is a great and powerful force for global harmony and building bridges between people».
He drew attention to the remarkable feature of the painting, that this canvas is 4 meters x 1.27 meters. «It is amazingly conceived, bearing in mind the globe we live on», he added, since the dimensions of the canvas have been reduced to an equivalent copy of the physical parameters of Planet Earth in circumference and diameter (the Earth has a circumference of 40,075 km and a diameter of 12,742 km)«.
The project has also been executed as an online video chain, on 2 February 2022, using and passing the paint brush to the next one, thus creating bonds of friendship with people around the world, untainted by discrimination and exclusion. It is not surprising then that the World Painting Art Project set in the Guinness World Record as a unique event. An image of this painting was also delivered to the International Space Station.
The painting features distinctive and bright colors, which reflect optimism, hope and courage, that the President of the United Nations General Assembly set as the theme for the 76th session, he was steering.
Ambassador Ilyassov concluded the ceremony on an uplifting note, reminding us that we will not be able to put our brush strokes on the canvas, «let our brush strokes be in the form of smile, kind words and good deeds. They can all build a momentum of political and social activism for harmony, equality, inclusion, weaving together our individual strands to make a large tapestry of humankind«.
The project was first displayed on 28 October 2021 at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai.
The authors of the art project are well-known Kazakh civil activists and producers Daut Shaikhislamov and Dana Ormanbayeva.
Photo: gov.kz