Landing: Stories from the Cultural Divide. Season 1, Episode 9. Amira Wasfy
When Amira immigrated to Canada from Egypt with her young family she had big dreams for her new life here. Years later, following her divorce, she found that she could not travel home to Egypt because of an antiquated Egyptian law that prevented Egyptian women travelling without their husband's consent. She regarded this law to be in direct violation of her human rights and decided to fight it through her art. Her work called The Veiling of Isis was commissioned by the United Nations to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At the UN exhibition in Durban, South Africa, Amira met the Dalai Lama who inspired her to continue to use her art to advocate for humanitarian causes. Two years later the Egyptian law was changed. Amira believes that this shows the power of art.
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Suggested Uses
- Arts Education >  Level 10
- Arts Education >  Level 20
- Arts Education >  Level 30
- English Language Arts >  Level 20 >  Moving Forward - Establishing and Realizing
- History >  Level 20 >  Global Issues
- Social Studies >  Level 20 >  Human Rights
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