Global contest seeks to find the meaning of money
Published: 9 March 2021 at 15:00
Competition is part of ARU graduate’s year-long campaign to improve financial literacy
A former Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) student who created an eye-catching “money dress” to raise awareness of hyperinflation, is holding a worldwide competition to encourage financial literacy and help reduce poverty.
Katherine Hasegawa-Perez, who graduated in 2020 from her course in International Business Management, has joined with other ARU students to organise the Money Art Competition.
The Money Art Competition invites people to submit either creative writing, artwork, or performance art expressing their relationship or feelings towards money.
Judges are particularly looking for work that uses sustainable materials and addresses at least one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The competition marks the end of a year-long Money Festival, where Katherine and her fellow ARU students Cristina Ionita, Anousheh Fulford, Eve Ambrose, Tatyana Sysak and Vittoria Ragni, organised four webinars focusing on money, poverty, art sustainability and financial awareness.
Last weekend (6 March), Katherine, 31, held a workshop in Dubai, where she is currently based as she is unable to travel back to the UK, inviting local people to create art using banknotes rendered worthless by the hyperinflation taking place in Venezuela, the country of her birth, and using the opportunity to discuss the concepts of giving.
She had previously received national media coverage thanks to a dress she created made entirely from 2,500 Venezuelan banknotes.
Katherine, who is also currently building a knowledge exchange network among ARU students, said:
“Our hope is that by inviting people to explore their relationship with money through art, there is an opportunity to transform perceptions and empower societies to understand money, its power, its importance and the impact it has on our lives.
“Financial literacy is important because it makes people financially resilient, and it also lifts people out of poverty, a global problem which affects more than two billion people worldwide.
“I find it deeply unacceptable that, even in 2021, so many people still live on less than $1.90 per day.”
The competition, which is being supported by the 12 Ronnies Foundation, will see five people win £50 e-gift vouchers. The closing date is Monday, 15 March.
To enter, visit https://www.12rprizes.com/prizes/money-art-competition/
Photograph courtesy of Zheko Georgiev