Broadcaster Rachel Smalley (left) with Pien Faulkner who bought this Max Gimblett artwork for $3600. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Broadcaster Rachel Smalley (left) with Pien Faulkner who bought this Max Gimblett artwork for $3600. Photo / Jason Oxenham
We need you to help The Forgotten Millions. The Herald and World Vision are running a major campaign to raise funds and help the millions of children left homeless by war in Syria. With your help we can make a difference to the children and their families in desperate need throughout this region.
An auction of Kiwi artists' work has raised $22,000 for a project that uses art to help Syrian kids cope with the trauma of civil war.
Seven new works - from Dick Frizzell, John Pule, Sara Hughes and Reuben Paterson, and three from Max Gimblett, were sold at Gow Langsford Gallery in Auckland last night.
The work that raised the greatest amount was 2005 Wallace Art Award winner Sarah Hughes' Entwine, which sold for $5000.
The auction was organised by the New Zealand Herald and World Vision as part of "The Forgotten Millions" campaign to fund the charity's work in Syria.
Rachel Smalley in a refugee camp in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon with World Vision for the Forgotten Millions Campaign. Photo / Jo Currie / World Vision
Last night's earnings took total funds raised by the campaign to $191,000, World Vision spokeswoman Chloe Irvine said. The auction was attended by about 80 people - a mix of art collectors and people "who were wanting to give to those affected by the Syrian conflict".
Pien Faulkner, who bought a work by Gimblett, was thrilled with her new print and to be supporting the cause.
She said she had lived in Syria for three years in the 1990s, so was horrified by what the war was doing to the people of the country. "It's the women and children that are suffering the most," she said.
The campaign is raising money to support 12 million Syrians, including 5.6 million children, who have fled their homes since the war began four years ago.
Syria campaign
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Goal:
To raise funds to support 12 million Syrians, including 5.6 million children, who have fled their homes to other parts of Syria and neighbouring countries since the Syrian civil war began four years ago.
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Partners:
The
New Zealand Herald
, broadcaster Rachel Smalley and World Vision, one of 21 non-government organisations (NGOs) working in a United Nations-led coalition in Syria and surrounding countries.
