GUILA CLARA KESSOUS, UNESCO ARTIST FOR PEACE

Guila Clara Kessous will be at Fondation Opale for her conference “Art & Human Dignity: Human Rights and the Art of Healing in the Service of a Culture of Peace”, in which she will explore the positive impact of the arts on the promotion of peace, human rights, health, and well-being around the world.

Guila Clara Kessous is a UNESCO Artist for Peace, art therapist, actress, and director. She holds a PhD supervised by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, as well as a University Diploma in Art Therapy from the Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, in collaboration with the Centre d’Étude de l’Expression of l’Hôpital Sainte-Anne. Since 2022, Guila Clara Kessous has been leading the International Forum for World Art Day under the patronage of UNESCO and the World Health Organization. She also works as an art therapist for vulnerable populations that have suffered genocide (Rwanda, Shoah,…) or post-traumatic violence (Congo, Rohingya in Bangladesh).

The conference will be structured in three parts: art and car, art and activism, art and peace education.

A workshop will follow, exploring the link between theater and human rights, from ancient Greece to the present day. Participants will discover theatrical exercises designed to better understand the notion of the “other” in relation to human rights on stage. The aim of this approach to the dramatic arts is to find a new way of raising awareness of social and humanitarian issues, such as conflict related to exclusion (through role-playing scenarios), and violence of war crimes (through work with extracts from survivor testimonies).

Conference (11am – 12pm): CHF 10.– | Free for Friends of Fondation Opale and with Abobo
Workshop (2pm – 3pm): CHF 15.– | Minimum age: 15

Booking required: online ticketing for conference and workshop