PEACE FOR ALL: Cristina de Middel for UNIQLO
Together with Plan International in Vietnam, De Middel documented and worked with children in Hanoi
Magnum photographers Olivia Arthur, Cristina de Middel, and Lindokuhle Sobekwa partner with UNIQLO for the brand’s PEACE FOR ALL initiative to highlight the impactful work of NGOs in Romania (Save the Children), Vietnam (Plan International), and Ethiopia (UNHCR). Through intimate portraits of peoples’ daily activities and creative workshops in collaboration with each community, the project seeks to amplify their voices and stories.
An ongoing project, PEACE FOR ALL features a collection of T-shirts designed by world-renowned figures in art, design, literature, science, sports — and of course, photography. From these sales, 100% of profits are donated to international organizations aiding people impacted by poverty, discrimination, violence, conflict, and natural disasters.
Cristina de Middel spent five days documenting the daily activities of students at a boarding school, supported by Plan International, in the Hà Giang Province of Vietnam. Plan International Vietnam works to protect ethnic minority adolescents and young people from becoming victims of child, early, and forced marriage. During morning and afternoon classes, as well as playtime, De Middel followed the students’ schedule and photographed them. As part of the commission, De Middel held a photography workshop with the students, focusing on visual narration through images. Each student was given a selection of images to create collages and tell their own stories, hopes, and dreams for the future.
Founded in 1937, Plan International is a development and humanitarian organization that works together with children, young people, supporters and partners to strive for a just world, where everyone is equal. Plan International helps children and girls in over 80 countries.
“I was lucky to be working with Plan International in Vietnam,” said De Middel. “They support small rural boarding schools. Just making sure that the quality of the education is at the standard that it should be.”
“I tried to turn the school into sort of a playground, trying to break the order of what the classroom could be or what the games could be — of what their routine, in a way, could be,” she explains.
"For me, it was important to have them rethink what surrounds them in a playful way."
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“It is well known that creativity sits in our capacity to subvert the given order of things and the meanings we learned in our journey to adulthood. In my work, I reconnect to the absolute power that we are born with and use while we are still children,” said De Middel.
“It’s the same power that turns a folded piece of paper into a boat or a pencil into a rocket and I believe that looking at the world as a place you can change and modify is an essential skill to remind the next generation if we want to make a change. Working with these children in Vietnam gave me plenty of hope for what was to come and it was also a lot of fun.”
All profits from purchases of UNIQLO’s PEACE FOR ALL charity T-shirts will be donated to three international organizations, UNHCR, Save The Children and Plan International, to support victims of poverty, discrimination, violence, conflict, and war.
PEACE FOR ALL: Lindokuhle Sobekwa for UNIQLO
PEACE FOR ALL: Olivia Arthur for UNIQLO
