Jake and Dinos Chapman head a stellar cast to tell stories of world's children in need

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/nov/24/art-world-voice-africa-children

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Some of the most famous names in British art – including Jake and Dinos Chapman, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor and Rachel Whiteread – have stepped forward to bring the experiences of poor and abused children in South Africa and Rwanda to a bigger stage.

The Chapmans, the controversial brothers nominated for the Turner prize in 2003, were the first to sign up to help a charity set up by the film and stage director Danny Boyle. Their new image, <em>My Father's Suicide</em>, was created after the pair listened to a recording of a 16-year-old South African girl, Kgopotso Mere, talking about the discovery that her father, an Aids sufferer, had committed suicide shortly after being discharged from a hospital stay. Their painting will be auctioned on Wednesday, along with that of 10 other leading artists.

Recalling how happy she was to hear that her father was leaving hospital, Kgopotso Mere's story ends with a grim realisation: "On my way from school my mum call me, telling me I must arrive early at home. Then I met my friends, telling me that they saw many cars at home. I was so happy because I thought that they came to see my father. Oh, I was wrong. When I arrived at home my mum told me. She said: "It will be fine my child".

Working together since their graduation from the Royal College of Art in 1990, the Chapmans won early acclaim for <em>Disasters of War</em>, made with plastic figurines that represented scenes from Goya's <em>Disasters of War</em> etchings. The brothers continued to be drawn to themes of violence and conflict and their 1999 work, <em>Hell</em>, was contentious because its tabletop landscape was peopled with more than 30,000 two-inch figures in Nazi uniforms. In 2008 they created a piece incorporating the watercolours of Adolf Hitler.

"I sent the Chapmans three testimonies to respond to," said Amber Sainsbury, the actress and trustee of Dramatic Need. "It was quite surprising to me which one they chose – a very emotional story, filled with pathos."

The charity's new art project, called ARTiculate, includes works by artists Tom Gallant, Whitney McVeigh, Jillian Edelstein, Patrick Jacobs, Adeline de Monseignat, Stuart Semple and Tom Price. They will all be on display at the Victoria Miro Gallery in Islington, north London, before they are auctioned to raise money for a new children's arts centre in rural South Africa.

Kapoor's red painting was inspired by the story of a 15-year-old girl, Mojabeng Tiba, from the Rammulotsi township in South Africa, who dreamed of the death of her mother one night, only to wake and find it was true.

Jacobs was prompted to create his work, <em>The Extraordinary Appearance of the Strumaria Tenalla Orientalis in the Township of Rammulotsi</em>, by the story of the blooming of a rare flower, the strumaria, found only in isolated areas of the Free State in South Africa and western Lesotho, and by the testimony of Dibuseng Borole, who recounts how he was offered the chance to win some running shoes if he came first in a race.

"The very unlikely appearance of the strumaria in the surrounding landscape of his hometown suggests a supernatural event, albeit a small, overlooked one," explained Jacobs. "The resolute desire for transcendence remains a human impulse even in the face of adversity or when confronted by the very ambiguity of our existence."

For his piece, <em>Africa</em>, Gormley took inspiration from a group of children's testimonies, rather than just one.

The works can be see on the website of the charity's auction partner, Paddle 8, while at the exhibition in the gallery visitors will be able to see the artwork while listening to recordings of the children's stories. The London auction will be echoed in New York simultaneously. .

Reading on mobile? Watch Dramatic Need Children's Monologues - London on YouTube

ARTiculate follows another collaboration with famous names staged by the charity three years ago at the Old Vic. <em>The Children's Monologues</em> featured Sir Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne and Gemma Arterton on stage, under the direction of Boyle, as they soliloquised the personal stories of African children.

Reading on mobile? Watch Dramatic Need's Children's Monologues from South Africa

This time 11 artists were given audio recordings and transcripts of a number of children telling their personal stories and then asked to use them as an inspiration. The charity's aim is to provide an arts education to children living in poor areas of rural South Africa and Rwanda giving the children the chance to change their lives. Through dance, drama, art, music, film and photography, they learn to deal with trauma and conflict and to confront "taboo" subjects such as HIV awareness, ethnic violence and gender inequality.

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