PEACE FOR ALL: Olivia Arthur for UNIQLO
Together with Save the Children Romania, Arthur documented and worked with Ukrainian refugee children and families in Bucharest
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 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.
Olivia Arthur spent three days in Bucharest with Save the Children Romania at the Counseling Center for Ukrainian Children and Families — one of eight such centers across the country providing integration services to refugees from the war in Ukraine like counseling, child protection, education, mental health and psychosocial support activities. While there, Arthur built a small studio area inside one of the classrooms, allowing the children to express themselves through shadow play. One of the images selected for the PEACE FOR ALL T-shirt emerged from the exercise. Founded in the UK in 1919, Save the Children is an international, non-governmental organization aiming to help improve the lives of children worldwide.
About her time with the children, Arthur said, “It was about engaging and we set up a little studio, and I had this idea for making shadow puppets. So I took quite a strong light, so we could do it and they could play. And it was quite incredible because it was obviously something that they’re very familiar with doing. So it was this very nice moment.
“But every time the kids came in, it was different how they used the space. And it kind of gave them a little platform to perform. I had these scenes where it was too much — they couldn’t fit in my camera. And it was, you know, it was really fun. It’s nice when that happens.”
On the first day, she ran a workshop on the theme of “Friendships.” The children were given digital and disposable cameras and asked to take pictures of each other. They then created collages using the pictures they took. Every instance of play and experiment was an opportunity to bond . “I wanted to give them the chance to kind of express themselves.”
Arthur said, “The most powerful tool that children have is their imagination. So I wanted to create a space where these children could come and express themselves and play with whatever came into their heads. There was a lot of giggling and some inventive creatures and poses.”
In addition to creating workshops and opportunities for creative play with the children, Arthur spent time documenting the different activities run by the Center itself, like Romanian/English language classes, after-school and creative classes, therapy with dogs, as well as play and movement-based activities provided by trained facilitators to improve the psychosocial wellbeing of conflict-affected children.
All profits from purchases of UNIQLO’s PEACE FOR ALL charity T-shirts will be donated to international organizations, UNHCR, Save The Children and Plan International, to support victims of poverty, discrimination, violence, conflict, and war.
PEACE FOR ALL: Cristina de Middel for UNIQLO
PEACE FOR ALL: Lindokuhle Sobekwa for UNIQLO
