The art exhibited under the ‘Environment’ Category at the Sharjah Children Biennial (SCB) is a strong plea by young artists to protect their right to a healthy environment.

The artworks are on display at the Sharjah Art Museum until 15 February 2017, and celebrate the fifth edition of SCB themed, ‘A World as Big as Your Imagination’.

Through clear blue skies, panoramic rainbows and sparkling stars, these children in their own innocent ways have beautifully expressed their concern about the rapidly degenerating environment being taken undue advantage of by a world plagued by overconsumption and excessive industrialisation.

The artworks on display clearly reflect the children’s heightened level of awareness about the severe environmental problems being faced today. They portray their dreams and aspirations about reversing this trend towards creating a greener and more sustainable world for future generations. A few portraits expressed their desire to stop desertification and overhunting – two alarming aspects of environmental degradation today.

By dedicating one of its categories to the environment in this edition, SCB tried to capture the creative imagination of children on canvas. The Biennial aimed at providing a platform where young artists could share their hope and dreams about the kind of world they wish to live in to SCB visitors.

The variety of artworks aligned with the children’s backgrounds and countries, where some paintings depicted the beauty of the marine environment, and some others were dotted with green pastures, golden deserts, and forests – each upholding the common theme of a healthy and ecologically rich environment.

Some children opted to use themselves as the main protagonists of their artworks, pushing home the message of a world where nature and humanity coexist peacefully, and respect and nourish one another.