First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has underlined the importance of art as a powerful tool to campaign against the needless killing of elephants and rhinos in Kenya.
She said the skilled craft provides a great opportunity for Artists to use their creativity to highlight the need to preserve the natural heritage while deploring the unnecessary killing of the valuable animals.
“Through art we have an opportunity and responsibility to speak out against the deplorable killing of our wildlife”, said the First Lady when she presided over the opening of the Davina Dobie Art Exhibition at the Tribe Hotel, Gigiri, Thursday evening.
She lauded Ms Davina Dobie for putting the issue of elephant conservation on the global map through an Art-based campaign.
The First Lady said since 2013 when the “Hands Off our Elephants” campaign was launched, the country has taken many other strides in the struggle to protect the environment. She is the Patron of the campaign.
She said those with passion for Art stand on a great opportunity to develop it into a profitable, permanent and satisfying career that takes the Artists around the world.
“We hope to see more young Kenyans rising to share their artistic innovations with the world and combining their artistic abilities, with a desire to serve their communities, their country and the world”, she said.
The First Lady encouraged parents whose children have potential for Art to deliberately inspire, cultivate and support the children’s artistic ambitions adding that Art could culminate into phenomenal careers that could contribute to the shaping of our society and the world.
She however said Art can have a real and lasting meaning beyond the money it earns.
The First Lady said despite Art being so abstract, it ultimately serves as a mirror of reality which beckons every individual to examine the world and consider whether we are contributing to building or destroying it and whether we are part and parcel of its problems , or whether we are helping create solutions and progress.
She said Art has the power to unite people in a shared journey of aesthetic appreciation and interpretation, to challenge conventional thinking through creativity and innovation besides the ability to inspire people to re-imagine the world.
Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources Prof Judi Wakhungu and her counterpart from the Sports, Culture and the Arts docket Dr Hassan Wario congratulated Ms Davina for amplifying the theme of Wildlife Protection through Art.
They said the Artist had taken the craft to International Standards.
--PSCU