35 young students studying at universities from different countries came together in Şanlıurfa within the scope of the Erasmus+ Youth Project named Art Unites Us (Art Unites Us), partnered by Harran University Migration Policies Application and Research Center and Social Cohesion and Entrepreneurship Association.
The project participated by the students of Münster University from Germany, Pereyaslav State Pedagogical University from Ukraine, Ohana Association from Italy and Moldovan Technical University and Moldova Agricultural University from Moldova, as well as our members who study at Harran University and are active in the Social Cohesion and Entrepreneurship Association. Within the scope of the project, young students did various activities by drawing attention to the unifying aspect of art.
Within the scope of the project carried out by Universal Youth Group and supported by the Turkish National Agency, young people and students; They had the opportunity to both promote their own culture and get to know different cultures by organizing workshops, artistic activities, cultural promotion activities and dissemination activities.
Participating in the project from Italy, stencil artist Federico Luvol, together with the participating youth and university students, made stencil art on the Osmanbey Campus Student Life Center amphitheater stage wall to draw attention to immigrants and underprivileged children in the world. At the same time, the participants who came together in Şanlıurfa Art Street on the 3rd day of the project; Trained by Federico Luvol, they made portraits of immigrant children on big cardboard, again with the art of stencil. After their art, the participants mostly underlined that art does not need a language, that everything artistic is universal, and that the hope that shines in the eyes of a migrant child in this artistic work they have done today is more valuable than anything else. In this context, what a participant in the event said summarized the situation;
“Art and everything artistic is so wonderful… I think what makes art universal is that it doesn’t need a language. Think about it, you can tell your pain, your happiness, your fears, in short, everything without speaking, and even people you don’t know become partners in your story with your artistic work. Today we did portraits of immigrant children under the tutor of Federico and it was an incredible moment for me. It was very meaningful to see the hope that shines in the eyes of a girl I have never met and to be a part of it. After this event, I thought that our project had achieved its purpose. Because art really united us. It showed that we are people of shared feelings, and that we can all have hopeful eyes and sometimes sad facial expressions. These are human things, and I realized that we all realize these in a common denominator here today. It was really great. Art unites us and does not distinguish between languages! I am very lucky to be involved in the project.”
He expressed his thoughts and feelings. The other day of the project was reserved for cultural trips; Göbeklitepe, which is a very important place in terms of human history, was visited. On the last day of the activities, Harran University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Sabri Çelik and Secretary General Zübeyir Zorlu visited the area where the portraits of refugee children were made.
Harran University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Sabri Çelik, Project Coordinator Harran University Faculty Member Assoc. Dr. Getting information about the project details from Hakan Güler, he was personally interested in students from different countries of the world, and got their opinions on Harran University and Şanlıurfa. Afterwards, Çelik presented the students from different universities of the world with their Youthpass certificates, thanked them for their artistic work and posed for a photo together in memory of the event.
