TEHRAN – Paintings by 21 Iranian children have won awards at the Kanagawa Biennial World Children’s Art Exhibition in Japan.

An untitled painting by 13-year-old Zahra Jamshidi received one of the eight prizes given by the president of the Japan Foundation, one of the supporters of the exhibition.

In her drawing, Jamshidi, a member of a branch office of the Institute of Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA-Kanoon) in Kermanshah, has illustrated a Yalda Night party. 

Yalda Night falls on the last day of autumn, and the evening is celebrated by Iranians as an ancient tradition.

Other children, including Karen Qobadi, Nazanin-Zahra Kuhi, Saba Vadikheil, Maya Tavassoli, Diba Arabpur, Helia Qadimi-Nasiri, Paria Entezami and Hooman Nik’ain, were among the winners of the Kanagawa Prize.

Ilia Cheraghi, Fatemeh Khademi, Nesa Mahmudi, Zeinab Rahimi, Melika Abolhassani, Asra Rahnama, Sadra Hakiminia, Hedyeh Jafarpur, Shokufeh Ehsani, Bahareh Puryusef, Kiana Qanbarzadeh and Sana Abdollahzadeh are other winners of the prize. 

The exhibition is organized by the Kanagawa Prefectural Government and Japan Overseas Cooperative Association. 

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), U.N. Association of Japan, National Federation of UNESCO Association in Japan, National Council of YMCAs of Japan, Japan Committee for UNICEF, Kanagawa Prefecture Municipals, Kanagawa Prefecture Board of Education, Kanagawa Prefecture Municipal Boards of Education and Kanagawa Prefecture Japan-China Friendship Association are other supporters of the exhibition.

The winning artworks were showcased in the exhibition held in the summer of 2021 at Earth Plaza in Kanagawa, a coastal prefecture just south of Tokyo.

The grand prizes went to “Deeper” by the 12-year-old Bangladeshi girl, Nafisa Maliyat Syeda, “My Happiness” by Thin Keawsod from Thailand and “A Mantis Is Here” by Yanai Daiki from Japan.

“Merry Mice” by Vikhliaiev Volodymyr from Ukraine and “Tug of War on Sports Day” by Mitsuhashi Kento from Japan won the Minister Awards.

The president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency also awarded eight paintings, including “Mountain Chamois” by Gabriela Pietrzak from Poland, “Unity” by Afsheen Arissa Raiyan from Bangladesh and “Liang Xin” by Hu Zhan Ge from China. 

Photo: An untitled painting by the 13-year-old Iranian girl, Zahra Jamshidi, received a president of the Japan Foundation award at the Kanagawa Biennial World Children’s Art Exhibition in Japan.

MMS/YAW