During a cultural festival in Kirkenes aimed at promoting international friendships, Peacepainting had the opportunity to present the Peacepainting concept to Mr. Ryu Sung Rim. Mr Rim is the leader of the North Korean Culture Committee and attended the festival as a representative of the North Korean government.
Mr. Ryu Sung Rim
Mr. Rim was very inspired by the method and invited Peacepainting to visit North Korea.
Since then, Peacepainting has been in North Korea twice. The first visit was to establish a contact, and on the second visit we had Peacepainting workshops with Morongbong Middle School in the capital city Pyongyang.
Peacepainting was welcomed very warmly. The head teacher showed, since the very beginning, her gratitude and enthusiasm to have Peacepainting in her school. The headteacher underlined very often what a privilege for her it was to see her students involved in these activities, and she stressed many times the fact that she was proud of her children getting involved in this.
Some anecdotes from the workshop
Peacepainting flew straight from a project had held in Helsinki to Pyongyang. Even though the whole trip took quite a while, when we landed in North Korea, the brushes and sponges were still wet from the previous workshop. This added more authenticity to the workshop delivered in North Korea, as gave the impression that there was a continuum between the workshop in North Korea and the one in Finland.
Despite cultural differences, the workshop with the children in Pyongyang took place like in any other place, and this represents a key-point of the Peacepainting workshops: Peacepainting workshops’ formula fits everywhere.
The paintings created by the children from Morongbong Middle School have since then traveled the world to be exhibited together with paintings made by other children. It becomes very powerful when children from very different countries are exhibited together, and is a reminder that all children - regardless of cultural background - have the same needs and wants for equality and friendship.
