All around the world, children and young people are raising their voices on the issues that matter to their generation. We must listen to them.
A group of young artists from India, Indonesia, Italy, Myanmar, France, Nepal, Philippines, Poland and the USA used their talent and creativity to raise awareness about children's rights issues – from climate to mental health, education, ending racism and discrimination – calling for adults to create a better future as we recover from the pandemic.
These creators were invited to attend a series of online sessions and learn new skills with the GIPHY Studios team, as well as guest speakers, including artist Tolmeia Gregory, as part of our Youth Mediathon.
Together, they discussed creative solutions to the world’s big problems, and brainstormed to design a series of stickers and GIFs to mark World Children's Day 2021 — UNICEF’s global day of action for children, by children, on November 20th. Scroll down to check them out!
Their content is also available on UNICEF's page on GIPHY and is discoverable with the hashtag #worldchildrensday on every platform that supports GIPHY stickers and GIFs.
MEET THE ARTISTS
Israt Kanchan, 22, Italy
"I am an artist and I have been drawing digital illustrations since 2015. I love making colourful cartoon style illustrations. One of my illustrations had the honour of being featured on the Voice of Youth and Unicef social media pages in 2020 for World Children’s day. I would be delighted to contribute my skills again for a good cause! My Instagram page is @israat_chan."
Annisa Ariro Dhinantia, 19, Indonesia
"My name is Annisa Ariro Dhinantia, everyone calls me Riro. I’m an undergraduate student in social welfare at Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia. I've loved drawing since I was in high school and I started drawing digitally in 2020. I opened an art Instagram account in 2020 where I try to post new illustrations once a week. Illustrations that I draw are made as an appreciation for my friends and a representation of my feelings."
Maya Bhatt, 15, United States
"I have been drawing and designing ever since I could remember. I am the head of design on my school newspaper and I run my own organization that uses art to inspire and advocate for different causes. My organization is called Color For Causes. I am very passionate about advocating for mental health. Especially after the year we just endured, many young people feel isolated and anxious."
Camille Lorenzo, 20, France
"I’ve been an art student for two years now, but I just discovered GIPHY last year and I love creating small animations for my friends to use. Making gifs and stickers is a way for me to also create art about things I am passionate about outside of school, like sports, vacation, and my pet crabs. I like exploring new techniques in art, like 3D animation, painting a mural and completing a gif collection."
Natalia Nawrocka, 18, Poland
"I'm an 18 year old artist and illustrator. Some of my bigger projects include illustrating my own comic book, creating concept art for a game that I've been working on with my brother for over a year, but also making stickers to sell and raise money for charity for children with leukemia. I make my own independent digital illustrations and work as a freelancer. I recently joined GAM (Global Awareness Movement), which is an organization made by a group of young people in order to raise awareness about different global issues."
Febrilia Syahputri, 20, Indonesia
"My name is Febrilia Syahputri and I live in Bogor, Indonesia. I consider myself an imaginative and cheerful person, and I hope people get inspired by the stories that I draw. One year ago, when I was feeling insecure about myself, I found my passion in drawing."
Lily Paez, 15, Philippines
"Ever since I could hold a pencil, I’ve always loved to draw. My content creation journey started a year ago and since then, I’ve gathered a friendly and respectful community (mainly composed of the youth like me) who enjoy art and storytelling as much as I do. On Instagram, I like to tell stories through my art. I hope that after seeing my art, people will feel like they learned something meaningful, educational or were just entertained and amused. I often express myself in comics, illustrations and animation."
Aditya Raj, 18, India
"Drawing is the only thing I've found in which I can lose myself completely, and I love it. In this pandemic, I tried digital art for the first time. This changed my perspective of art forever. Design is limitless and overwhelming. Another thing which I love doing is to work for the smiles of children. I try to spread awareness for the rights of children through my art skills. I make paintings, digital posters, animation, illustrations, and other art inspired by child rights."
Nirmal Ghimire, 16, Nepal
"I am a 16-year-old self-taught visual artist, developer and FX composer from Nepal, known with the studio name Nxrmal. Learn more about me in my website. "
Zin Nwe, 22, Myanmar
"I'm a 22-year-old IT Engineering student, designer and illustrator from Yangon. Over the last two years, I've had a chance to help various brands with graphics that communicate well with their markets."
Afifah Firdaus Zahidah Romdhoni, 19, Indonesia
"I like to share ideas in the form of animation, especially about education. I want to share knowledge, and I hope that with this, content education can reach all people."
Ishleen Kaur, 21, India
"I'm a 21-year-old illustrator, graphic designer and artist from India. I'm constantly creating, learning and growing in my creative field. I am also a part of a NGO where we work as a team, with people of all ages and backgrounds, to create murals and artworks about various social causes in schools and public spaces etc. Along with this, I create personal and passion projects regularly which I share on my website and social media."
Jhunu Debnath, 18, India
"I am currently a student who started animation and other digital artworks as a hobby. I started making animations during the COVID‐19 pandemic, and I'm self taught. I have made a few short animated stories of me and my friends, and a few cartoons to cheer people up during the sad days."
MEET THE MENTORS
Youth Mediathon mentor Alix McAlpine (she/her) is the Senior Director of Creative Strategy at GIPHY Studios. She uses data and trend monitoring to ensure every GIF, Clip, and Sticker the team creates is set up for success.
Youth Mediathon mentor Jess Judkins (she/her) is the Brand Strategist at GIPHY Studios. She has been with GIPHY since its inception, helping to build out teams, products, and grow the brand.
Her current work at GIPHY Studios is focused on ensuring the team's creations stay true to the brand and strategizes on continued brand amplification and growth.
Youth Mediathon mentor Stephanie Weber (she/her) is a Senior Producer at GIPHY Studios. She leads diversity and inclusion initiatives and works with people, puppets, cartoons and anything else that could make the internet a little better.
Guest speaker Tolmeia Gregory (she/her) is a 21-year-old animator and climate justice activist from the UK. Using her online platforms to raise awareness about the impacts of the climate crisis and how we can take action, Tolmeia began animating GIF stickers to engage people in the conversation in a fun and accessible way.
Her GIF stickers have been viewed over 9 billion times and are used by climate activists all over the world.
Child Rights Stickers
Visit our GIPHY account to discover more stickers designed by young creators. Are you an artist too? Learn how to share your content about children's rights with the Voices of Youth community.
