The African artist, Lillian Nabulime, will host a workshop, including a display of her powerful art, at the venue Smuget, around the corner from the Norwegian Human Rights House, Oslo, tomorrow, Tuesday 31 May. Nabulime treats the themes of HIV and Aids artistically, in both sculpture and text. She also works with women in similar workshops in her own country Uganda. (30-MAY-05)

The workshop is called ?Uten grenser,? which translates as ?Without borders,? a reference not only to the international character, but also the non-discriminatory approach of Nabulime?s work. In the workshop, she will address the following questions:

-Can art and design be a catalyst for change?
-Can art and design contribute to setting a new focus on complex issues?
-Can art be used in the battle against HIV / Aids?

Nabulime?s aim and ambition is to contribute to the reduction of the spread of HIV and Aids. In this work, ignorance, caused by shortcomings of the education system, is one of the biggest challenges. In Uganda, being among the more developed countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, 49 % of the women are illiterate.

Cross-over PhD in the making
Nabulime also works to prevent that those who have already contracted HIV / Aids are being abandoned, discriminated against or deprived of their elementary rights. She is currently developing her cross-over artistic-intellectual activities into a PhD in Newcastle, and will also share some of the preliminary findings of this work. The artistic-aesthetic forum Norsk Form, the humanitarian aid organisation CARE and the event / design bureau Mother Courage will co-host the workshop.