×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

EU ambassador opens ‘Rubbish Exhibition’

News
European Union (EU) ambassador to Zimbabwe, Philippe Van Damme, last week officially opened an art exhibition focusing on neglect of the environment under the theme Own Your Rubbish at the National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe. BY WINSTONE ANTONIO The exhibition is the brainchild of photographer and creative director, Laurie Macpherson, who is working with the […]

European Union (EU) ambassador to Zimbabwe, Philippe Van Damme, last week officially opened an art exhibition focusing on neglect of the environment under the theme Own Your Rubbish at the National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

EU-ambasador-to-Zim

The exhibition is the brainchild of photographer and creative director, Laurie Macpherson, who is working with the Zee-Bag Project, Shingirirai Trust, the Happy Organisation and the Hope Group, as well as 12 other local artistes using the medium of “rubbish” and found objects.

The artworks on exhibition are made from the main categories of rubbish like plastic, glass, tin, aluminium and paper.

Officiating at the event, Van Damme said the exhibition, which was in line with the EU 1996 general strategy on waste-based preferred hierarchy of waste management operations, bears testimony to the transformative power of art.

“Zimbabwe has gone and is still going through difficult times and several challenges, but like what these artists have done with rubbish let’s take responsibility of our destiny through using our various skills about knowledge into opportunities and success in all spheres of life,” he said.

“Waste management has become one of the greatest challenges facing Zimbabwe’s urban areas, as the volume of the waste being generated continues to increase at a faster rate than the financial and technical capacities of the authorities to deal with.”

Macpherson told NewsDay that the Own Your Rubbish project teaches people to protect the environment and how to use their skills to earn a living, passing an important message of individual and collective responsibility for the planet.

“With this exhibition, we want to educate people about the impact they can cause on the environment, while at the same time conscientise them about personal responsibility to the rubbish generated in the society and improve attitudes and behaviour regarding the important local and global environmental issue,” she said.

The project is being funded by the European Union through the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe.