“A Piece of Myself” – Inclusive project on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Celebrating the International Day dedicated to persons with disabilities, the National Gallery traditionally realizes its social responsibility in the direction of raising personal and collective awareness to support vulnerable categories with an inclusive program. This year, a workshop was held with the technique – mosaic, under the title “A Piece of Myself”.

The final works from the workshop will be shown at an exhibition that will be opened on December 15, 2023 at 1:00 p.m., in the multimedia center Mala Stanica. The director of the National Gallery, Dr. Dita Starova Qerimi, and the educator Maja Dimitrova will address the opening. Also, some of the students who were involved in the project will have a musical performance.

“Yesterday I was smart. Because I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise. Because I want to change myself”

Sri Chinmoy

Every change in society begins primarily with ourselves. If change is to happen and truly work, we firstly need to have a broad picture of the world around us, meaning, among other things, caring for and respecting everyone, especially vulnerable categories of children.

In this regard, the existence of educational projects that are being worked on according to the model of social inclusion proves to be more than necessary and extremely functional. From year to year, we are looking for new ways and forms of learning, all in order to focus on their functionality and potentials. In the halls of Daut Pasha Hamam, we conducted creative workshops with children from Partenij Zografski, school for children with hearing and speech impairment, students from Josip Broz Tito high school, the class of international baccalaureate, Dimitar Vlahov secondary school, as well as students from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Industrial Design.

This year, too, we had fun because we had the opportunity to learn something new. The children entered the magical world of the mosaic. Under the mentorship of the teacher Igor Kitanovski, they created completely new unique creations from old pieces of ceramic tiles. During the workshops, they learned the process of creating. It all started with a sketch, then the cubes with different colors and shapes were imprinted on the still fresh glue and in the end they were polished. Given that the mosaics will be donated to the Zoo of the City of Skopje, the children tried to use its inhabitants as a motif. Panda, fish, horse, butterfly are just some of these unique mosaic pieces. The joy and excitement that their mosaics will adorn the Zoo gave them an additional sense of motivation that they also contribute to the happiness and satisfaction of some other children.

In this project, each of the children did not just give their piece of stone in creating the big picture. They gave much more than that. They gave a piece of themselves!

The exhibition will be on display until December 25, 2023.

Maja Dimitrova, MA, Project Coordinator