Fashion designer Nicole Farhi has teamed up with artist John Keane and international development charity Christian Aid to launch a range of limited edition clothing which will help highlight the plight of millions of children in war torn Angola.
‘Angola is rich in resources, yet millions of children are still unable to access basic education and healthcare.’
In 2006 renowned war artist John Keane was commissioned by Christian Aid to visit Angola to produce a series of paintings. These feature in an exhibition, entitled Childen in Conflict, that will show at Wolverhampton Art Gallery until February 2008, before touring the UK in 2008/09.
And now prints from four of Keane’s paintings are being used on three men’s short sleeved shirts, a man’s t-shirt, one kids t-shirt and a unisex canvas bag to be sold by Nicole Farhi in all her London stores from 10 December.
Farhi said: ‘I felt very strongly that I wanted to get involved with a charity that helps innocent children caught up in conflict. It was very exciting to work with John Keane, an artist of such integrity and talent.’
The Children in Conflict exhibition brings together work by high profile contemporary artists who examine the ways in which children are affected by conflict. John Keane’s work, a series of large-scale paintings, highlights the issues facing millions of young people in war-torn Angola as they struggle to rebuild their lives.
Karen Hedges, PR manager for Christian Aid, said: ‘This is a very powerful exhibition and to have such a high profile designer helping us to highlight our vital work in Angola is fantastic.
‘Half of the Angolan population is under the age of 16, the majority of whom live in terrible conditions. It is a country rich in resources, yet after five years of peace millions of children are still unable to access even basic education and healthcare.
‘Christian Aid is using the work by John Keane and the involvement of Nicole Farhi as an opportunity to call on the Angolan government to commit to the UN Convention on Corruption. We want to see revenues from Angola’s rich oil and diamond reserves going to the people who need it most.’
For further press information, or to arrange an interview with John, contact Karen Hedges on 020 7523 2404 or email khedges@christian-aid.org.
For further information on Nicole Farhi please contact Kim Molloy on 020 7036 7500 or email molloyk@nicolefarhi.com
Notes to editor
Canvas bag in Oil rig design (one size) Quantity 150
Adult T-shirt (Angola village print): Quantity 100
Kids t-shirt (Football print): Quantity 100
Shirts – 3 prints: Mines, Oil rigs, Footballs: Quantity 100 of each design
The Angola range will be available on ebay and from all Nicole Farhi clothing stores.
Christian Aid is an international development agency working in 50 countries with people of all religions and none.
Nicole Farhi is one of the most consistent, most successful and most admired fashion designers in England. Her unique blend of easy but functional tailoring with luxurious, desirable separates and accessories has made her name synonymous with quality. In the last twenty years she has built up a passionate following not just in the UK, but in the US, Japan, and increasingly throughout the world.
Nicole Farhi has 11 free standing stores internationally, 20 concessions nationwide and wholesale customers in France, the US, Italy, Spain, Greece, Germany, Scandinavia and the Far East. There are also showrooms in London, New York, Paris, Milan and Madrid.
Since 1989, Nicole has won a number of awards including Menswear Designer of the Year and British Designer of the year.
John Keane was the official British war artist during the first gulf war and has work displayed in numerous public collections including the National Portrait Gallery and the Contemporary Art Society.
John Keane was born in Hertfordshire in 1954 and attended Camberwell School of Art. His vivid, shocking, and often darkly comic paintings have focused on many of the most pressing political questions of our age. He came to national prominence in 1991 when he was appointed as official British war artist during the Gulf War. His work has always been deeply concerned with conflict - military, political and social - in Britain and around the world. His subjects have ranged from Northern Ireland to Nicaragua, and from the British coal industry to the mass media. His topics are more commonly associated with journalism than fine art. Yet through his paintings Keane confronts issues and explores their subtleties in a unique and penetrating way.