Take a look at our winners of the 57th FLOW International Drawing Competition!
Dear Children and Young People of Leverkusen, Brandenburg and Odessa,
My name is Heidi and I write to you from Ireland. Yesterday I was sick and feeling very sorry for myself.
My friend Alfred phones - and now he feels very sorry for me too. But he knows I love art. So he tells me about your exhibition. He is so proud of you, I hear it in his voice. “Diese Jungen Menschen” he says, “diese tollen Mädchen und Jungs. I’ll send you some photos of their artwork, so you can see how wonderful it is”. “Thanks” I say. But I am not really interested, I am just feeling too sorry for myself at that moment.
But … ping, ping, ping - the photos keep coming on my phone. And here I am, transported by the power of art - by this powerful and beautiful gift that you have. I no longer feel sick - I am lost in a world of imagination, curiosity, wonder and questions. Are those children carrying a dog? Or is it a fox? Is he dead? No, no he’s not dead, they are rescuing him. And so, children, this is how you will rescue many more people like me - we are not dead to beauty and imagination, we are just sleeping - and sometimes a little worn out by all the things that are not beautiful in this world. I so wish I could be in Leverkusen today for your exhibition.
I would spend HOURS there - wandering and wondering, dreaming and hoping - and smiling.
Dear Artists - Thank you for sharing your gift and your talent with this fragile world. Please do not be upset, but I hope you never become so rich and famous that your artwork is bought by millionaires. I cannot think of a worse fate than locking up your talent and imagination in a Swiss vault! Stay the way you are - your art will touch the hearts of more people than you could ever hope to meet in many lifetimes and you will reach the depths of the shyest and loneliest souls.
Music and art are the only intergalactic vessels humankind will ever have. And the worldly journeys of people like me are lighter for knowing that those ships are in your amazing hands.
Heidi Castro Ledwych
Irish Entrepreneur and Dreamer
The FLOW International Drawing Competition, based in Schwedt/Oder, is one of the most important drawing competitions in Germany.
Every year, around 2000 children and young people from all over the world send their work to Schwedt in a wide variety of techniques and on a wide variety of themes.
In addition to the annual exhibition at the Uckermärkische Bühnen, the works of the young artists can also be seen in special exhibitions throughout Germany and abroad.
With the high quality of the submitted works, the selection was not easy.
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