The painting contest in the electoral field VotART Junior 2022 has nominated its winners

October 24, 2022

The 2022 edition of the electoral painting contest VotART Junior 2022, jointly organized by the Centre for Continuous Electoral Training (CCET), in partnership with the School of Fine Arts "Alexei Șciusev", has finished. The event was conducted with the support of UNDP, in the framework of the “Enhancing democracy in Moldova through inclusive and transparent elections” project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The competition lasted one week, during 15-22 October, engaging 25 young artists from art schools across the country in painting on canvas democracy and elections.

"We at the Centre for Continuous Electoral Training are constantly exploring new, innovative methods of civic and electoral education. Together with our partners, we have decided to organise a painting contest on the thematic of democracy and elections. Both arts and democracy rely on free expression and appreciate valuable results. I am convinced that the participants felt challenged to portray this topic and how to represent graphicly democracy and elections," said Doina Bordeianu, director of CCET.

The selection of the best works was a real challenge for the jury, as all works were crafted with great talent, in different styles and with strong and compelling messages. One of the members of the jury, the president of the Union of Plastic Artists in Moldova, Florina Breazu, noted: "I am glad that the younger generation is excited about the possibility of coming up with an opinion, an attitude towards democracy. I appreciate the potential of participants and I believe that this competition can be in the future a launching pad in art world."

The first place was won by Artur Bunacalea, a student at the Center for Excellence in Construction in Chișinău, with his work entitled "Your vote is an important choice for your future!".

"For me, the contest was a difficult experience. It was not so easy to find the idea of the drawing sketch. To be honest, only in the last days I was inspired and started working on it. Art is a way to communicate with anyone because it has no linguistic barriers or other limits. The jury's appreciation with the first place was very unexpected for me. I was thinking I would get e mention, most likely," mentioned Artur.

The second place was won by Ksenia Coltun, a student at the "Alexei Sciusev" Fine Arts School in Chișinău, with the work "Democracy in Moldova". The third place was taken by Diana Șaitan, a student at the "Liviu Deleanu" High School, with the work "Your voice, our future!".

The winner of the first place received a voucher of MDL4,000, the second place – MDL3,000, the third place – MDL2,000 and the two mentions – were awarded MDL1,000 each. All the other young artists received certificates of participation and consolation prizes.

For ten days, all the canvas paintings produced within VotART Junior 2022 will be presented in an exhibition at the National Art Museum of Moldova.

In 2019, the UNDP project “Enhancing democracy in Moldova through inclusive and transparent elections” supported the Central Electoral Commission in conducting a creative workshop in the electoral field with the same generic. The winning posters were distributed during the civic education campaign for the October 2019 elections.