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At the gallery
Recycling is important in today’s world if we want to leave this planet habitable for our future generations. It is good for the environment, since we are making new products from the old products which are of no use to us. Recycling begins at home.

When you think of recycling you should really think about the whole idea; reduce, reuse and recycle. We have been careless up to this point with the way we have treated the earth and it is time to change; not just the way we do things but the way we think.

The National Gallery of Zimbabwe is going to host “Tavatose/Sisonke 2016 Annual Schools Visual Art Exhibition” which will focus on waste management under the theme “Waste no Waste, Waste is Treasure”. The show will run from the July 9 to August 8.

Tavatose/Sisonke is a project whereby schools are invited from all provinces in Zimbabwe to assist their students to create art works that reflect the theme of making use of waste.

The exhibition is being organised by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe with sponsorship support from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).

The theme was chosen in order to sensitise the school children about personal responsibility when it comes to waste creation and to encourage children to “own”, or take responsibility, for what they buy and how they dispose it. Furthermore, to make them see that we are all responsible for the waste we create, most of which will last for thousands of years.

The partnership between the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and EMA brings a new awareness into schools that of recycling and enabling many school children from across Zimbabwe to lend their voices to the discourse of a green environment through visual narratives whilst at the same time improving their artistic skills.

This is because there are plenty of facts out there on why recycling is important. The world population is growing, not shrinking, and currently each human being adds significant waste to the planet over his or her lifetime.

Waste management is there to serve two purposes of recycling: First, it avoids landfills and helps in reducing air and water pollution and secondly, valuable material such as aluminium cans, plastic and glass are reused in other forms and not wasted.

Since we are saving resources and are sending less trash to the landfills, important energy saving is achieved if we are to reduce the future effects of global warming.

Children are expected to search for inspirations that surround them while others express their feelings about the topic through the artwork.

They are to use recycled or reused objects to make attractive pieces of contemporary art and literally turn everyday trash into creative treasures.

Some have created compositions from recycled plastic bags, bottle tops and old newspapers which are so inviting to take a look at, and there is going to be a national adjudication of which selected art works will be exhibited at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

The exhibition’s aim is to promote artistic talent at a young age whilst focusing on specific areas of concern for the nation as well as to develop a greater awareness of the importance of the causes of degradation of this glorious planet we live on.

In addition, the exhibition is being done with the hope of hopefully conscientise children to think differently about how they live and consume.

This is a platform for the young children to showcase their creativity in a way that contributes to a better society and this is what the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and EMA aims to achieve through Tavatose/ Sisonke Schools Annual Visual Art exhibitions. One needs to know the importance of recycling while at the same time being earth friendly and this can help our planet to be a better place to live in.