The Brighter Futures exhibition in Addis Ababa presented artworks created by children participating in an art-therapy programme across conflict-affected areas of Amhara, Afar and Tigray.
The programme began in 2022 as part of a broader education-recovery effort addressing the psychological and social effects of armed conflict on children, teachers and displaced communities.
Art as a space for reflection
Activities were carried out with pupils in internally displaced persons camps, host communities and affected schools.
Between October 2022 and July 2023, the programme reached nearly 11,000 fourth- and fifth-grade pupils from 156 primary schools.
Working with instructors from regional teacher-education colleges, children used art lessons to reflect on their experiences, express hopes for the future and rebuild confidence.
The programme also incorporated psychological first aid, social-emotional learning and measures intended to reduce risks linked to gender-based violence.
From therapeutic exercise to public exhibition
Art competitions held in the three regions generated work later brought together in Addis Ababa.
Moving the children’s images into a public exhibition changed their status from classroom exercises to visible records of how young people responded to conflict.
One practical legacy of the initiative was the reintroduction of art into the curriculum of participating schools.
Brighter Futures therefore documented both individual expression and a wider attempt to restore creative learning in communities whose education had been disrupted.