Minority Artists, Voice, and Dissidence

International Contest for Minority Artists

Since 2022, OHCHR and its partners have organized the International Art Contest for Minority Artists. The contest aims to support minority artists committed to defending human rights around the world.  The initiative is a partnership with the civil society organisations Freemuse and Minority Rights Group International (MRG),  as well as with the City of Geneva and, in 2024, with the Centre des Arts of the International School of Geneva. Themes of the contest to date have included:

• Memory in the Present (2024)
• Intersectionality (2023) and
• Statelessness (2022)

Visual Gallery 2022-2024

In 2024, a retrospective exhibition featuring the artworks of 22 laureates of the 2022-2024 editions of the International Contest for Minority Artists was installed at the Centre des Arts of the International School of Geneva. The video recording of the Opening event of the exhibition is available here.

2025 Theme: BELONGING, PLACE AND LOSS

OHCHR and its partners launched the fourth edition of the International Contest for Minority Artists (2025) on 18 December 2024, the anniversary of the adoption in 1992 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. 

The 2025 theme of the Contest is Belonging, Place and Loss.

The 2025 theme invites creative exploration by minority artist human rights defenders of the connections between minority rights, minority experiences, and questions of belonging, environmental justice and climate change, as well as wider aspects of minority attachment to place and existence, loss of community, language and culture.

The call for applications for the 2025 edition is now closed. 

A voluntary Judges Panel will select three minority artists, groups of artists, or art projects to receive non-hierarchical awards and one minority artists to receive the Minority Artist Award for Youth.  Winners will be announced in November 2025. For more information, a full description and concept note for the 2025 Contest is available in English, ARABIC, CHINESE, FRENCH, SPANISH and RUSSIAN.

The International Contest for Minority Artists is part of the Minority Artists for Human Rights Initiative (2024-2028), a comprehensive program of support for minority artists as human rights defenders. In the implementation of this action, OHCHR works in partnership with the non-governmental organizations Minority Rights Group International and Freemuse, and the City of Geneva. During 2024, the action also enjoyed the support of Loterie Romande, the Canton and Republic of Geneva, as well as of other contributors who wish to remain anonymous.

Minority Artists for Human Rights Initiative

OHCHR is currently scaling up its support for minority artist human rights defenders worldwide through the Minority Artists for Human Rights initiative (2024-2028), a global action and platform including education, integration with civil society, partnerships, awareness raising in different regions of the world, and bringing together local authorities supportive of minority artists. We invite you to help us take this initiative forward, to build a community of likeminded people, groups, communities, institutions and foundations. We welcome your support for this initiative.

#AllIn4MinorityRights

Details of the initiative are available in English | French

This is the start of the journey… and a wonderful opportunity to participate in shaping it !

Inquiries to : [email protected] and [email protected].

Previous Editions of the International Contest for Minority Artists

2024: Memory in the Present

Background

The effective exercise of minority rights is intimately linked with visions and understanding of history in the present. Minority inclusion is frequently driven by public understanding of society as welcoming diversity. Minority exclusion, by contrast, often derives from an understanding of “our history” which defines minorities outside the circle of the legitimate. At the same time, minorities often carry with them the imprint of unrectified historical injustice.

The 2024 Edition of the International Contest sheds light on the role and work of artists in the process of memorialization in different countries and contexts, and give visibility to the narratives, histories and memories expressed through arts by minority individuals and communities. More information on the 2024 contest is available in the concept note.

In 2024, a retrospective exhibition featuring the artworks of 22 laureates of the 2022-2024 editions of the International Contest for Minority Artists was installed at the Centre des Arts of the International School of Geneva. The video recording of the Opening event of the exhibition is available here.

International Minority Artist Award Laureates 2024:

• Bianca Broxton (visual and plastic artist)
• Joel Pérez Hernández (visual and plastic artist)
• Francis Estrada (visual artist)
• Laowu Kuang (painter and performer)

International Minority Artist Award Laureates 2024: Youth Category:

• Jayatu Chakma (painter and plastic artist)

Honourable Mention:

• André Fernandes (photographer) 
• Maganda Shakul (musician and creative designer)
• Chuu Wai (visual artist) 

A full catalogue of the artists’ work is available here. The catalogue also provides information on minority artists human rights defenders, arts and human rights, memory, as well as details of the 2024 Judges Panel.

2023: Intersectionality

The 2023 edition oft the International Contest celebrated minority artists working on themes relating to intersectionality and compounded forms of discrimination.

International Minority Artist Award Laureates 2023:

• Babatunde “Tribe” Akande (multidisciplinary visual artist)
• Bianca Batlle Nguema (painter)
• Mehdi Rajabian (composer and musician)

International Minority Artist Award Laureates 2023: Youth Category:

• Karthoum Dembele (photographer)

Honourable Mention:

• Aluízio de Azevedo Silva Júnior (visual artist, filmmaker and writer)
• Tufan Chakma (visual artist)
• Andrew Wong (visual artist)
• Elahe Zivardar (painter)

A full catalogue of the artists’ work is available here. The catalogue also provides information on minority artists human rights defenders, arts and human rights, intersectionality, as well as details of the 2023 Judges Panel.

Further information, including as concerns process and criteria for the awards, is available at: 
Concept note: العربية | 中文 | English | Français | русский | Español

2022: Statelessness

Versions in العربية | Français | Pусский | Español

The 2022 edition of the International Contest celebrated minority artists working on statelessness themes. 

International Minority Artist Award Laureates 2022:

• Zahra Hassan Marwan (artist and author)
• Jean Philippe Moiseau (plastic and recycling artist)
• Abdullah (photographer and videographer)

Honourable Mention:

• Brang Li (painter and visual artist) 
• Amin Taasha (painter and visual artist)
• Naser Moradi (painter) 
• Mawa Rannahr (painter)

A full catalogue of the artists work is available: HERE

The catalogue also includes biographies of the 5 members of the Judges Panel, information on minority statelessness and the right to nationality, and details of global action to end statelessness.

Further information, including as concerns process and criteria for the awards, is available at: international art contest Recognizing Minority Artists Working on Statelessness Themes.

The 2022 edition was organised jointly with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

The Minority Artists, Voice and Dissidence Series 2020-2022

The predecessor to the Minority Artists for Human Rights initiative was the Minority Artists, Voice and Dissidence series. The series brough together minority artists from diverse contexts to present artwork on the freedom of artistic expression. The series aimed to strengthen OHCHR and the UN system’s recognition of minority art and artists as powerful players in discourse and action on human rights—and to deepen engagement with them. 

The first event of the Minority Rights, Voice and Dissidence series—Human Rights, Art and Protest: Voice and Expression in U.S. Minority Communities in the Time of the Pandemic—was held in February 2021. It focused on artists from across a range of minority communities in the United States, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.  
 
The 2nd Human Rights Gallery of the Minority Rights, Voice and Dissidence series—Speaking Truth to Power: Religious or Belief Minority Artists, Voice and Protest—took place in May 2021. The focus was on religious or belief minorities worldwide, including in circumstances where artists may be threatened by anti-blasphemy or anti-apostasy laws, as well as by other forces limiting civic space.

A 3rd event— Human Rights Re-Imagined: A Virtual Art and Activism Tour  focussed on minority visual artists from a plurality of mediums, contexts and geographies, with due regard for gender and minority diversities.

Contacts: [email protected], [email protected].