Dariyush is eco-friendly

Young artist Dariyush Postwalla hopes his award-winning painting will encourage people to plant more trees and stop abusing the earth’s valuable resources, writes May Al Mousawi.

The 11-year-old British School of Bahrain pupil took part in the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) 21st International Children’s Painting Competition and was one of 12 youngsters to receive prizes for their environmental artwork, beating more than 630,000 entries from children aged between six-and-14 in the annual competition.

Under the topic ‘Green Communities’ Dariysuh tackled the theme with imagination and flair and painted a hurting world with bandages and symbols of different forms of pollution, radiation and toxic waste.

As the regional winner for West Asia, Dariyush received a prize of $1,000, a trip to the Tunza International Youth Conference on the Environment in Dubai and a digital camera at a prize-giving ceremony in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Indian-born Dariyush, who lives in Sehla, said: “We were given the theme of the environment and the idea of drawing the world just popped into my mind.

“It has been affected by different things such as pollution so I decided to put bandages on the world to show how and why it is hurting.

“It is dying because people are polluting it and cutting trees down without growing more to replace them. People are also using too much water, food and minerals and they should try and save the planet.

“Bahrain isn’t very green and we should plant more trees.”

The winning work of art took Dariyush three days to complete. He heard about the competition through his former art teacher, Clare Dixon-Clarke.

“As a keen artist, Dariyush is always keen to experiment with mixed media,” she said. “His enthusiasm knows no bounds. I was delighted when I found out that he had won. It was thoroughly deserved and an amazing achievement.”

Dariyush is thrilled to be part of the line-up of young winning artists. The UNEP has kept his painting and it will be used to raise environmental awareness through exhibitions, websites, posters and publications as well as to raise funds to further promote environmental activities.

The International Children’s Painting Competition is UNEP’s flagship art and environment event. Since 1991, it has received more than three million entries from children in 190 countries. The competition is organised in partnership with the Japan-based Foundation for Global Peace and Environment, Bayer and the Nikon Corporation.

Dariyush said: “There’s a photo of my painting on the internet but the UN took the painting and is using it to promote awareness of the environment.

“When I was in Brazil they showed all the winners the paintings that had won in previous years and mine is going to be part of that collection now.”

He hopes to use his prize winnings while he is on vacation during the summer in England and explained how it would be great to watch his favourite team, Manchester United, live in action.

Although he dreams of one day playing professional football he also hopes his love of maths will help him carve a career with numbers but explained that it’s still ‘too early’ to decide.

The creative minds of dad Jehangir, a business manager for the Fermax company, and mum Perin, a housewife who loves to knit, have helped their three boys excel, as brothers, Rushad, 13, and Shiavax, 15, are ‘excellent artists’ too, according to Dariyush.