Migrant Seeds Bank; A Living Archive of Differences, Leone Contini Bonacosse (Italy)

The Artraker Biennial Awards and Art of Peace Exhibition is a global event that recognises art and artists that make critical contributions to peace around the world.

The core concept of the Art of Peace Exhibition is that of a mosaic – showcasing international and Maltese artists together, alongside children’s artworks.

The Artraker Foundation has two core missions – to shape through art how we understand violence and war and their effects, and to inspire through art better peace, whether at the very local level or through peacemaking.

As a Maltese voluntary organisation, the foundation strongly believes that art and culture have a role to play in promoting social cohesion in the country.

The Artraker Biennial Awards this year are focused on critical challenges to resilient societies and peacemaking today. Artists had to address three topics – art that inspires imaginative leadership (Imagine Peace), art that uses space to promote inclusion and resilience (Creative Spaces) and art that counters dominant divisive narratives (Changing the Narrative).

Two hundred and fifty works were submitted from over 90 countries. The jury then selected nine artists, three of whom were declared winners.

Zona Franca, Franca Formenti, (Italy)

The award winners and runners-up will be showcased at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta between March 3 and 26. Alongside the winners, there will be three Maltese works selected by Art of Peace exhibition curator Fabrizio Mifsud Soler and art generated by the One in a Million project.

We are the heritage (DR Congo), Aydin Matlabi (Canada)

One in a Million is a collaborative art project aimed at children of different ages, abilities, ethnicities, socio-economic backgrounds and religions. The workshops and in-class activities will help children explore the beauty in diversity as well as what makes each child unique and beautiful, using fish as a metaphor.

Inspired by Linda Krantz’s books, the children paint their own fish, which they will place in the shoals of brightly coloured fish.

The artworks prepared by children will be integrated into the Art of Peace Exhibition at Spazju Kreattiv and showcased alongside impactful conflict art from around the world. After the exhibition the children’s artwork will move to the Education Ministry.

The exhibition this year is being partnered with the British Council, which is this year celebrating its 80th anniversary. The council is also showcasing one artwork from their collection.