At Bonhams Edinburgh an exhibition will be held in the autumn to raise funds for the charity Firefly International.
The charity helps children who are affected by war, no matter where they are in the world and was established by Ellie Maxwell in 1995. She travelled to post-war Bosnia and began a youth project in Mostar to help displaced children rebuild trust and connect across divided communities through art and music workshops.
The body works through catch-up and STEM education for children affected by war in Syria, play art therapy and education for Palestinian child refugees in Egypt and mental health support for children in Palestine.
Firefly also runs the only inter-ethnic youth club and pre-school in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Firefly Supporter, Art Historian Dr Ben Street said: “Creativity is the basic unit of how Firefly works. When my friend Ellie started Firefly, it was her belief that making art together can be a model for living together and artists have generously donated their work to Artists for Firefly to allow this belief to keep going.
“To be an artist is to manifest a faith that human activity can point beyond itself – and through Artists for Firefly we can support Ellie’s mission to bring creativity to help children traumatised by war”
The exhibition, Artists for Firefly, will be staged in collaboration with Artwise curators.
Artist, Nick Goss said: “It’s a testament to what firefly are doing that there wasn’t a single artist I talked to who didn’t immediately offer a work for the project. They are a small grassroots charity that have a lot of heart and try and tackle the problems children face in war zones in a localised specific way that is incredibly important and inspiring. “
Reflecting the vital work of Firefly, the participating artists have created work on the theme of childhood, with 100% of the proceeds raised from each sale going directly to support children in Firefly’s project areas around the world.
Artists for Firefly: Tom Anholt, Michael Armitage, Rana Begum, Phoebe Boswell, Gareth Cadwallader, Sedrick Chisom, Andrew Cranston, Laura Ford, Nick Goss, Phil Goss, Gabriel Hartley, Nicholas Hatfull, Christian Hidaka, Tom Howse, Nick Jensen, Matthew Krishanu, Sara Naim, Kemi Onabulé, Sikelela Owen, Ravelle Pillay and Caroline Walker.
Firefly International is a Scottish charity supporting children and young people affected by war in a number of countries.
Format of selling exhibition: works will be available to buy online and in person from Bonhams from 6pm on 28 September at this link:
