by Kaushalendra Singh
If artists are beyond boundaries, they are beyond gender and even beyond species. They look at things from the perspective of art. They stop at a sight that ordinary people would ignore and start working on something which is beyond others imagination.
Sarah Thompson and a fellow artist, Andrea Zarate Pardo, were attracted to the plight of stray animals. So they stopped and decided to raise awareness among common people. They work for the same goals under the banner of Stray Tails, an art collective passionately run and founded by international artists Sarah and Lupie Lup. Both are working together towards their shared goal of helping stray dogs and cats.
How would an artist raise awareness? Not by printing some pamphlets or writing an article on media platforms. Sarah and Andrea chose art to do their job. They lifted their paintbrush, drew some artwork and decided to showcase them at an exhibition. The expo ran from November 18 to 20.
Of course, they gave some thought before organising an event dedicated to the strays.
“We bonded over our passion for ‘Art & Animals’ and created an ‘Art Collective’ where the main objective is to put animals in the spotlight. Over the past few months, we have been working individually with groups of children, both in schools and out, creating and producing animal-inspired artworks to eventually be showcased and sold at our unique shows!” said Sarah about her expo.
“We reached out to local professional artists to also ask for donated work for this cause. The money generated from art workshops and art sales will be donated to the Strays of Oman. This is not a one-off show! We plan on running future workshops and exhibits to continue sharing this important message.”
The expo that ran for three days, evoked a good response, particularly on the last day.
Commenting on future plans for the strays after the event, Sarah said: “We continue to build out art initiative and will run art workshops etc in future under the banner of Stray Tails. There is a dedicated website to sell the artworks, proceeds of which will go to help the animals.”
Andrea is passionate about animals. She found the idea exciting and close to her heart. “I became part of this collective and started working towards our shared goal because it meets three of my passions; art, teaching and dogs. But what I like the most about this project is that it involves the community. We want people to get involved in whichever way they can and understand that there are different ways of helping. We all have roles in our communities, and we all have strengths and talents that we can tap into.”
She wants to do more for the strays and says, “This was our first event, and it filled our hearts to see people come together for this. As a collective, we are planning on having more opportunities for people to get involved. We are thinking about workshops, talks, more exhibitions etc.”
