Grade 5 CIS student Aadya and her friend, Ananya, won the first prize in the Junior Category of Project X-pired 2015, an art competition organised by Foodbank Singapore. The participants of the art project were asked to create an art piece using expired food items in order to raise awareness on food wastage around the world.

Aadya and her friend discussed and mutually agreed to create an art piece to depict natural and manmade disasters, that lead to food shortages. Aadya’s mum helped the girls source the expired food items to be used for the artwork from Foodbank and at home. They rules allowed entrants to use up to 20% non food waste items (i.e. glue, paper, paints). This meant they had to be exceptionally creative and resourceful with the choice of materials in order to both create their artwork and ensure they got their message across to the audience. The girls entry showcased that limitations really can inspire creativity. Their project was comprised of rice, thin noodles, flat noodles, lentils, lacquer, paper, poster paints and glue.

Their creative artwork depicted three disasters -- two natural (the ongoing bushfires in Australia and the poignant earthquake in Nepal) and one man-made (the most recent Syrian refugee crisis). These three events have led to acute food shortages, and left thousands of people homeless and devastated. While numerous countries are trying to get together to help out the victims in the disaster zones, the state of affairs is very dire and needs urgent global attention. Hence, they would like their artwork to appeal to people globally to reduce food wastage in their day-to-day life.

Congratulations to Aadya and her friend for raising awareness on food shortages around the world and drawing attention to devastating disasters through their original artwork!